Meant to Be
by The Shipping Queen
Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters (AU). Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with head-cannons. Because happiness comes in many forms. More on the fairies, Disney (and non-Disney) characters not previously mentioned, and experimenting with mythology- among other things. Come join the fun!
1. Henry the Hero

Title: Meant to Be

Alternate Title: There is no Excuse for This

Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters. Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with headcannons. Because sometimes, things just happen differently.

-

Chapter One: Henry the Hero

Chapter Summary: Henry's done so much for the residents of Storybrooke, so I decided to throw him a grand party in this chapter.

-

"I'm beginning to think I've failed as a teacher,"

The statement from Mary-Margaret was almost sudden. If she hadn't sat down to grade several students' final essays only moments before, it would have shot through the otherwise quiet, peaceful air that existed for only a few short minutes during the day. David immediately paused in the kitchen, where he was cutting up potatoes to make breakfast, to look over at his wife. Emma, likewise, set down the coffee cup she was drinking from and looked over with interest.

"Why's that?" the blonde was the first to ask.

Mary-Margaret had to peer over the newborn in her arms to look at the paper in her hands. "For our final project, I had the kids write creative stories with analogies," she explained; "these are just...really bad,"

"I'm sure they're not," David offered with a smile; he returned to cutting the potatoes.

"Oh, they are, trust me. Here, I'll read this one to you. 'Her eyes were like brown circles with big black dots in the middle.' I don't think this is even punctuated properly,"

Emma smiled and scoffed a little in amusement. David looked over at her as he scraped the food into the pan; "More coffee?"

"No, thank you. I've had three cups already since I've been here," she turned her attention back to the woman nursing a child in the living room. "Was it just that one person?"

"No," Snow shifted little Neal around and skillfully used her only slightly-free arm to find another page. "Here. 'John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met,'"

David tried not to laugh while Emma did nothing to conceal her grin.

"That's not even the worst one," she shifted the baby around. "'He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree,'" her voice shook and fell away towards the end as she looked down. Her infant son was asleep in her arms, prompting her to gently pull him away. "I didn't get to burp him," she mumbled with concern.

"Remember what Dr. Whale said," David reminded her; "don't worry too much if he falls asleep. Just lay him down,"

She was clearly still hesitant, but Snow relented. Her husband was right. Sighing, she placed the baby in his car seat and struggled to strap him in without disturbing him.

"Are you sure you want to cook everything? I could help," Emma lowered her voice so she wouldn't disturb her sleeping brother.

"I am making breakfast for my family," David smirked, adding eggs to the pan; "There is no greater honor. Now, go sit down,"

She impatiently headed to the table and sat down.

"You've gotta hear the last one," Mary-Margaret's voice was barely audible from where she still was in the living room. She picked up the paper and cautiously moved the car seat so she could sit near Emma at the table. That got her daughter's attention. "'The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object,'"

"Well, the good news is," her husband told her from the kitchen; "they at least seem to have a good idea of what an analogy is- right?"

"Yes,"

"Then you did just fine as a teacher. It was probably their first time, Snow. They'll get the hang of it," there was more clanking and stirring about in the kitchen.

She smiled and sighed with relief simultaneously. "You're right, David,"

"In the meantime," Emma joked; "I'd stash those away for a rainy day,"

"Breakfast is ready," mother and daughter both got wide-eyed and stared down at the baby as dishes clanked together. "Ah, sorry," David chuckled, moving more slowly. Neal stretched, but seemed to still be asleep- probably adjusting to the noise. Within the next couple minutes, all the plates were on the table, and both Emma and Mary-Margaret had orange juice to drink.

"Thank you, David," his wife thanked him, her tone thick with gratitude.

"This looks delicious. What is it?"

"Breakfast hash," he answered, picking up his fork; "Eggs, bacon, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach- we didn't have much of it in the Enchanted Forest, but from what I understand, I'm supposed to remember my parents having cooked it for me as a kid,"

"How do you know that if you don't remember?"

"...ah..." he paused his eating; "Kathryn told me,"

The brief look of jealousy that flashed across Mary-Margaret's face was the reason he hadn't mentioned it in her first statement.

"Sorry,"

"No, no, it's okay. You didn't know," a few seconds of awkward silence; "Anyways, this is delicious,"

"Thank you," he wiped his face and took a drink of coffee. "How are the RSVP's coming?"

"Good, I think," Emma answered. "Most of the people we sent invitations to called this week,"

"Speaking of," Mary-Margaret got back into the conversation; "where's Henry today?"

"He's with Regina," the blonde replied.

"Of course," she shook her head at herself.

"...you know, you don't have to come with me today," the sheriff swallowed her food; "I mean, if you want to stay home and rest, I'll understand,"

"No, no, of course not," it was her mother who responded. "We wouldn't miss it for the world,"

"Our grandson's very own..." David stopped. "What should we call it?"

"I don't know. I'd just call it 'A Celebration in Henry's Honor,'"

Emma smiled to herself as the two of them talked.

"And I'm sure Neal won't be giving away any of our secrets," she looked down at her son with a sly grin as she said that, to find the sleeping infant making sucking motions with his mouth, and had to stifle a giggle.

"Is everyone done eating?" David asked, standing up as he spoke. The girls both nodded. When he reached for their plates, Emma stopped him;

"I can get my own, you know,"

He looked directly at her and grabbed her plate anyways. "So can I,"

Mary-Margaret laughed softly at her confusion. "Just let it happen, Emma,"

"A man who does dishes. I like it," she conceded, letting him take care of the clean-up.

"I figure, if my daughter can be the sheriff and hunt down bad guys, I can do the dishes," with that, he dried his hands off. "It's after ten, should we go?"

"Yeah, we have a lot to do today,"

And, with that, the three of them (plus one) all piled out into the yellow Volkswagon.

-

"My castle!" Henry exclaimed as he came upon the playground. It was the new one the mayor had built, and still didn't have quite the feel that the old one did, but it was 'home' nonetheless. "It's exactly the same,"

"We didn't exactly have much time to remodel," Regina told him. "I did add some monkey bars, though. See? If you want a new one, we can work on new blueprints,"

"No, no, it's perfect," he chucked lightly. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know. What do you normally do at the playground?"

"Um. Plan out Operation Cobra,"

"Really?" she laughed; "That's it? Every time?"

He nodded. "I don't have much to plan, right now, though,"

"It'll be a nice day off,"

"Sure, sure," he looked around, trying to figure out what a boy his age would be doing on a playground like this. Sensing this, his adoptive mother lightly tapped his shoulder with her elbow and said;

"Hey," it came out a little awkward and hesitant at first, "dare me to try the monkey bars?"

That made Henry laugh. "Yeah! I dare you to do the monkey bars," as she approached them, he climbed up on the playground set that led to them to watch. Regina didn't bother to climb up, she just stretched up her arms and jumped until she grabbed a hold of the first one. Her shirt rose up on her, revealing a small part of her stomach, and it occurred to her that the mayor of the town was doing the monkey bars on a playground.

And she didn't care. The only thing she cared about was that Henry was enjoying himself.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" he encouraged; "You won't finish them if you just keep hanging there,"

She smiled at him, although he was behind her and couldn't see, then gradually began moving her arms the way she saw the kids do when they were up here. Right arm first, then left. With that, she was hanging from the second bar.

"Bet'cha can't do it again," he said it playfully.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do," she smirked, moving right and then left again, her tongue plastered to her upper lip in concentration. Regina was just tall enough that, if she straightened her legs out under her, she could just barely touch the ground. Her shoulders were starting to ache and the metal on her hands was painful, but Henry noticed as she started to unbend her legs.

"No cheating!"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, okay,"

"It'll be easier if you go faster. Come on! Right!" she jerked and hurried to move her right arm. "Left! Right! Left!"

"What is this, military school?"

Henry laughed at that and Regina made it to the last monkey bar.

"Good job, you did it,"

When she let go, she forgot to straighten out her legs and fell from that height onto her knees. Shock and concern crossed her son's face, and he practically jumped down to help her. "Mom! Are you okay?"

She laughed at his concern and brushed mulch off her clothes. "No worse for wear, Henry,"

He still stuck his arm out to help her. "Can you stand up?"

"Yes, I can," she pulled herself up on his arm, careful not to put too much of her weight on it. He helped her get the rest of the mulch off her clothes. "Well, that was a fun little adventure. "Maybe we should just...go to the movies, instead?"

It was hard to take that her son was a whole year older. She briefly wondered what it would have been like if, instead of twelve, Henry was twenty-eight, and she had left him at birth.

"A movie sounds good,"

"Okay," she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You pick,"

By the time Emma, David, Mary-Margaret and Neal returned home, it was already 2:00pm. They had a car full of party supplies and decorations, not to mention gifts, and a rather large cake. The hard part would be putting everything together, especially with a very disgruntled infant. Snow bounced with him on her shoulder, patting him on the back.

"Come on, it's okay, just relax," she tried in her most soothing voice. After a few more bounces, he burped, getting spit-up all over her shoulder. That seemed to calm him down. His mother, on the other hand, started laughing at herself as soon as the shock wore off. "David, come get your son for a minute,"

"Why?" he asked, taking the baby from her arms gently; "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just got him to burp and he spit up all over my shoulder, I need to go change my shirt,"

"Maybe you should have used a burp rag," it was playful sarcasm.

"You know what, David?" she replied with a smile and an equal amount of sarcasm; "Shut up,"

"I'm feeling the love here, guys," Emma joked, pulling various items out of plastic bags. Party plates, napkins, utensils, cups... "Where are the banners?" she wasn't really asking either of them. Snow wasn't even in the room, and David wouldn't know either. She was talking to herself. "Oh, here,"

"Emma, you can relax. The guests aren't gonna be showing up until six,"

Snow emerged from the bedroom with a different shirt on. "Okay, what did I miss?"

"I found the banners,"

"Neal made a spit bubble,"

"Oh, he did?!"

"Yes," he didn't seriously expect her to react that way. "Why don't I spend some time with Neal, and you two can get the decorating done?"

"That sounds like the best idea," she turned to her daughter, who was looking at her right then only by chance; "He's a terrible decorator,"

He didn't respond to that, he just sat down with the baby and began playing with him.

"What should we write?" the question came from Snow as they shuffled spray paint cans around.

"I was hoping you'd have an idea," she answered, situating a cloth under the banner and grabbing the stencils with clumsy, rushed hands. Mary-Margaret reached over and grabbed them as they fell. "I, uh, I...don't know,"

David looked up. "Henry the Hero,"

Emma and Mary-Margaret looked at each other tentatively, then to David, who was blissfully unaware of their hesitant confusion while he played with Neal. After a few seconds, they found themselves looking at each other again.

"...what do you think, Emma?" the tone of the question indicated her acceptance.

Eventually, she nodded. "Yeah. That's...that should be fine," she was worried that it might come off a little too childish for him, but she also had to remember that this was the kid who told her that Snow White and Prince Charming were her parents. They took the stencils and traced out large letters, then cautiously sprayed within the lines, inevitably getting droplets of paint in places they weren't supposed to be. Hopefully, no one but them would notice.

"Okay," Emma didn't want to take a pause. "The presents. We have to get everything wrapped,"

Snow nodded, and stood up to go retrieve said gifts, but was quickly distracted with her baby. She just had to go give him a kiss, which quickly led to her playing with his feet and making faces at him. Emma gave a lopsided, half-hearted grin as she watched. 

-

"You don't want to go anywhere for our honeymoon?" Belle asked Rumple as she searched through the closets for something reasonable to wear.

"Well, sure," he answered, relaxing himself against the headboard of the bed. "We could go to Storybrooke, Maine. Or, if you're feeling really adventurous...Storybrooke, Maine," so far, no one was willing to test the town-line boundary. They had no memory elixir to retrieve their memories.

"I've heard Storybrooke, Maine, has lovely weather this time of year," she pulled out a shirt, finally, the speech and shift in motion leading on that she wasn't breathing normally. Rumplestiltskin narrowed his gaze at her, but said nothing.

"We could go to the next city," he mentioned; "I'll fumble around like a blibbering idiot with no memories at all, and you can take me to a bar,"

She smirked, pulling out a pair of pants. This, evidently, required another deep breath. "Aren't you going to get dressed, Rumple? We're supposed to meet Emma at Granny's in twenty minutes,"

"I suppose I should put pants on before going out in polite company," he agreed, looking down at the big shirt he was wearing crookedly on his body. "It's a good thing we won't be in polite company,"

"Hoh!" she half-laughed, half-exclaimed, buttoning the last button on her shirt. "Rumple!"

He gave her a soft grunt and got up, leaning heavily on his cane. The air was tense with unspoken words, but neither relented to say what exactly they weren't saying. The tension may have been preferable; either that, or there was just no point in discussion. Nevertheless, they both changed.

"Come on, we'd better go," he heard barely a hint of self-consciousnes in her voice, though her hair still gave way to frizz in spite of (or maybe, because of) the brushing and any other girl would demand at least the next few minutes to put their make-up on. Although his face hadn't changed much in the course of he conversation, and he hadn't said anything telling, she gripped his hand and told him; "Stop sulking, Rumple,"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

She didn't use words to respond. She used a facial expression, a hard yet humored smirk, as if to say 'don't even try that.' There were moments when it seemed that he wasn't even wearing his skin around her, when she could see straight into his inner workings. It wasn't what he would consider 'often,' but it was certainly more often than other people could. "Really, Rumple," she finally used words. "You're worse than a woman, someti-" Belle didn't finish what she was saying. She stopped herself there and put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, that was such a stupid thing to say right now- you know what I-"

"Yes, I know what you _meant_," he left his tone and expression neutral, purposely inflecting his voice with a hint of frustration to see how she'd react. While she was shaking her head at herself, he couldn't stop the smile of amusement creeping up on his face.

After a moment, she couldn't help but laugh at it. "Alright, alright," they made way down the stairs. Belle kept her mouth shut this time until she knew exactly what she was going to say. "Anyways, what I was going to say..." out the door; "it's fine. Okay? I won't...take it personally,"

"Thanks for that," it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic.

She sighed and rested her head against the window with a coy grin. Weren't men supposed to be brutally honest and confused when women keep secrets? ...did that make her the man in this relationship? "You don't have to hide anything from me, you know,"

"Yes, I know," dogs didn't have to smell each other's butts, but it was in their nature.

"...okay," she conceded, grabbing his right hand with her left, although his was on the steering wheel.

The "closed" sign was up on Granny's door when they got there, but they opened the door anyway.

"Thank god you're here," Emma was on top of a ladder, trying to fasten the banner correctly on the ceiling.

"Relax Emma," David was on another ladder; "we've almost got it,"

"'Henry the Hero,' how cute!" Belle was pretty excited by that.

"There," David announced; "looks like we've got it. How's it look from down there?"

Rumplestiltskin's pause was most likely to come up with some smart-ass response to that. Belle, on the other hand, just answered;

"It looks just fine. What's that cooking?"

"Ruby's trying her hand at making a pizza for Henry," Emma answered, turning her head slightly. She tentatively stepped down.

"Is there something we can help with?"

"Honestly?"

"...yes,"

"Yeah, there's plenty you can help with," she looked relieved; "The dishes aren't done yet, the presents still need to be situated, and...and I need help getting the cake out of the car," she looked back to find Charming, and saw that he was now pre-occupied with helping Mary-Margaret keep him from getting too fussy. They were muttering to each other about what the problem would be, but she was too frazzled to hone in and pay attention. "Belle, can you-"

"Of course," she looked to Rumple, who seemed content to just stand there over his cane and scowl. "Why don't you start on the dishes, Rumple?" it was clearly not a question.

He chuckled almost menacingly and shifted the weight on his legs. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you to take care of menial task work?"

Her back was to him as she was already walking out the door, but the comment made her pause and turn to face him. Again, she didn't respond verbally, she just gave him a mischevious sort of expression. With that, the two of them were out. It seemed, for a moment, that Rumplestiltskin wasn't going to move. No one tried to make him- in fact, they hadn't even acknowledged his presence- but he looked out the door, scoffed, and limped into the kitchen without saying a thing.

It seemed the baby was intent on fussing. David had to stop about then so he could move the ladders out.

"What time is it, David?"

He checked his watch. "Five-thirty,"

Snow sighed, desperately trying to get her son to calm down. After another couple minutes, she bent over and laid him down in the car seat. "I just can't do this, Neal," she said, her mouth turning up slightly. "Come on, what's the matter?" nothing seemed to work. She sat back on the seat.

Within a few minutes, the baby had fallen asleep. His mother looked over at him and tried to keep herself from laughing.

"Well, I guess that was the problem," she said; then, she lowered her head into her arms and closed her eyes.

-

After Henry and Regina went to the movies, the two of them had somehow ended up back at her house, playing together on a two-player videogame.

"How do I shoot?"

"Press the 'X' button," a pause, and then he laughed. "Mom, that was me! You shot me!"

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, it doesn't do anything,"

They clicked around fervently on the remotes. A look of glee came across Henry's face. "We did it! We did it! We got him!"

Regina still had no idea what the goal of this game was supposed to be (or, for that matter, why it took so much effort to kill these characters), but it sure made Henry happy- and that was the only thing that mattered.

"You wanna...pause the game and go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, just let me save it," he clicked around on the controller. Regina nodded. It took an inordinately long time for the game to save, but once it had, he took the game out and put it in the case. "Now, we can get back to it later,"

She was surprised by this statement; a happy surprise that brought a real, genuine smile to her face. "Later?"

"Yeah, later," he nodded casually, as though he hadn't just made the sun rise after a year of darkness. To her, it meant that he actually wanted to spend time with her beyond today, beyond the time that Emma shoved him off to go spend the day with her so they could put the party together. "Oh, uhh, by the way..." he slipped his feet into untied shoes; "would it be alright if I stayed over tonight?"

"Henry- of course it would!" she knew he was a twelve-year-old boy, and that he probably didn't want to get all touchy-feely with his mother, but she couldn't resist at least giving him a hug. He didn't resist, although he wasn't expecting it. Once his shock dissolved, he returned the gesture.

"I thought you'd say that. I'll call and ask...'Emma...' after dinner," it was strange to call her by her first name after calling her 'mom' for a year; he was going to need to figure out a way to differentiate the two of them.

"That's-that's- wonderful!" she still hadn't let go of him. All he did was laugh, his chest rising and falling against her ribcage.

"Well, it _has_ been a year since I've seen you. I mean, I didn't know, but I'm sure 'I' missed you,"

She didn't say anything, because she was sure that if she did right then, he would hear the wavering in her voice and it would give her away. The sniffeling did, though, and she buried her face in his head.

"Aww, mom, come on..." he knew she wanted to keep her arms around him, so he didn't pull away yet; "I didn't mean to make you cry,"

Regina laughed. "I can't help it. I thought I would never see you again," she held her sob down so she could still be comprehensible.

He let them both stay like that for a few more minutes, until she started pulling away. She ruffled his hair. "Alright," the mayor composed herself. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be," he grabbed her hand. "It's fine," then let go. "Let's go get dinner now,"

She nodded and walked out the door, one arm wrapped around her son's shoulders.

-

Snow was still dozing at the table. It was Granny who approached her, cautiously shaking her shoulder. She jerked and shook her head.

"Pardon me, but we thought you might want to get Neal out of here while the foghorns are going off,"

She smiled dizzily and grabbed the car seat, fumbling out the back exit. David, noticing her awkward gait, came up beside her and offered some stability.

"You definitely need to get some rest tonight," he said softly. "Tell you what- I'll stay up on baby-duty and you get some sleep,"

"But you have to work tomorrow,"

"So? You need to get some rest," he sat down beside her on a path of sidewalk. "I won't take 'no' for an answer," David took charge of the carseat. "Starting now. Get back inside and enjoy the party- if you can walk," she rolled her eyes and huffed a little, then stood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Just needed a minute,"

Right then, from inside the diner, there came a blaring sound- the sound of a foghorn going off. "Go on!" David chuckled, making an ushering motion with his hand. Mary-Margaret considered for a moment, then relented and ran inside just as everyone was shouting "Surprise!"

Henry was both surprised and delighted. "It-it's not my birthday,"

It was right about then that Snow realized David was supposed to make a speech, and halted. Everyone was looking around. Ruby approached her with an inquisitive look on her face, holding a microphone attached to some speakers that were hooked up specifically for this. "Here, I got this," the girl let her take it. "Ahem," she cleared her throat and got their attention. In the blink of an eye, the royal princess took over; she relaxed her shoulders and raised her head. "Ladies and gentlemen," they jerked to see her, both because someone was talking and because that voice was not the one they were expecting to hear; "we are gathered here on this wonderful day to celebrate Henry- without whom this momentous occasion would not be possible," Regina clutched his shoulders. Emma stood beside her, but didn't interfere. "Henry," she looked directly at him; "the people of Storybrooke know there is no possible way we can ever show you the gratitude we owe to you, but please accept this celebration in your honor as a token of our thanks,"

The whole room- which was pretty crowded- clapped and cheered. Henry was now even more shocked and delighted than when they first walked in; he had on a full-mouthed grin. "W-Wow! Really, guys?! That's-that's-" he faltered.

Snow gracefully handed the microphone to Ruby, and Regina bent down to her son's head as she gave him a hug from behind. "You're our hero, Henry,"

"Hah-" the grin turned into a laugh, as the pre-teen boy no longer knew how to express exactly what he felt. "I don't..." it seemed like everyone's attention was on him. "I don't know what to say...thanks guys,"

"No, Henry," Emma looked down at him; "thank you,"

There was another small roar of clapping and cheering. Again, he was out of words. Regina, seeming inclined to help him out, let go of her grip and guided him to a booth to sit down. Emma set a large, round, silver stand on the table; Ruby disappeared behind a door into the kitchen, and came back out with a waitressing tray.

"I decided to try my hand at making a...'New York' pizza, the way you like it,"

His face lit up. "R-Really?!"

"Yeah, I put on all your favorites..."

"Should be just the way he likes it," Emma joked, sliding in beside Regina (who did her best not to react) and sitting down. "It's delicious, cheesy, and doesn't lie,"

No one understood the reference aside from Henry and Rumple, but it did serve to make the boy laugh again. Ruby, sensing that this was an inside joke, set the pizza down on the tray and handed the pizza cutter to Henry.

"I wasn't sure what you'd want to drink with the pizza- do you want soda or hot chocolate?"

Henry chuckled. "I'd like a soda with my pizza, thanks. Maybe Dr. Pepper?"

"We have plenty, I'll be right back," with that, she scattered to the back. Henry started cutting the pizza eagerly. Right then, Sister Astrid finally started making her way around with all the dishes on a cart, passing them out to all the dinner guests. Henry seemed surprised to see that she was here, since he didn't really know her that well. Ruby came back out with his drink and served him.

"Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No,"

"If there's anything else you need, call me,"

With that, she left to get the pizzas for all the other tables. Belle, realizing there was nothing else going on for her right then, followed her. Emma took the pizza cutter and cut slices for both herself and Regina, who responded with pleasant surprise.

"Thank you, Emma,"

Henry smiled while he was chewing, obviously happy to see his two mothers getting along.

"You're welcome,"

"Mm- hey," he struggled to swallow.

"Chew, honey," they both reminded him in unison.

"Whatever it is, it can wait," Emma said.

He went ahead and paused to finish the bite he had in his mouth. "Emma," even she seemed disoriented to be referred to by her first name with him; "I was wondering if I could spend the night at Regina's tonight- sorry, I just don't know what else to call you when you're both here,"

"It's alright, Henry," Regina was the one who answered.

Emma nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, I think that's only fair. I got the last year with you, and tonight is your night, anyways,"

"I thought you'd say that," he grinned; "Thanks!"

Some of the noise died down to a low muttering that encompassed every table. Dinner dishes clanked together from time to time. Snow took a slice of pizza to David outside and enjoyed it there with him, rather than bringing the child in and risking waking him.

"Your speech was wonderful," he complimented her. She smiled sardonically, but the expression quickly softened.

"Thank you. I just wish there was something more we could do for Henry- he's done so much for us,"

He nodded in agreement.

"When you go back inside, tell Red this pizza is delicious. I almost don't believe it was her first time making a 'New York-style' pizza,"

Mary-Margaret picked some of the banana peppers off her pizza. They had all been made to suit Henry's tastes, which consisted of pepperoni, bacon, and banana peppers. The peppers weren't really her cup of tea. David, on the other hand, wasn't picky at all. She handed him a glass of Pepsi. They were about halfway through when Granny opened the door and looked out at them.

There was a pause as each of them tried to decide what to do. Finally, Snow asked; "Is something wrong?"

With that, the diner's owner noticed that there was a sleeping infant and pieced together what was going on in her head. "Just wanted to tell you to make sure you bring your dishes back in,"

Both nodded. "Of course, no problem,"

She left them alone, then.

"Is Henry enjoying himself?"

"Yes, very much," Mary-Margaret glanced at her sleeping infant. "Maybe we should have gotten a baby-sitter,"

"And miss the exciting time I'm having with Neal? Don't think of it!" he was clearly joking, and it made her smile again. She covered her face, trying to make sure her mouth didn't open.

Back inside, Ruby was waiting on the last table before she could sit down. That table happened to belong to Rumplestiltskin, who was sitting alone and couldn't look less interested if he tried.

"I wouldn't expect to see you here," she said, and he opened his eyes. He didn't respond, at least not verbally.

The only thing he said was "Thank you" as she set the pizza down on the stand and placed a glass of Pepsi in front of him. He appeared to want to be left alone, so Red left him to it. By the time she got back into the kitchen, the last pizza had been taken out, as had the last glasses, and Belle was nowhere to be found. Confused, she leaned back out the door to see if she could find the girl, and did within a few seconds. She had taken the pizza and drinks over to a table already. Ruby smiled to herself, wiped down the waitressing tray, and made way for the food.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked jokingly, taking a seat anyways.

"Yes, I'm waiting for someone," it took her a second to realize this answer was also in jest.

She cut herself a slice of pizza and took a drink of soda. "I figured you'd want to sit with your date,"

"I would," she answered, fondling the pizza with some hesitance; "but I've spent the whole last two days with him and I think it's time for some different company. And I haven't seen you in a while,"

"You don't think he'll-"

"Get mad? Be upset? Nah," she paused to take a drink of her iced tea; "Even if he does, it can't possibly be worse than the mood he's in right now,"

"He doesn't seem much different to me, to be honest. ...you just bite it," she explained, holding up her slice of pizza; "like this,"

Belle got the hang of it quickly. She responded with instantaneous excitement. Once she swallowed, she said; "Now I know why Henry likes this so much!"

Ruby grinned and giggled slightly. "So, how's the honeymoon going? Should I assume there's been...turbulence?"

"There's always turbulence with Rumple," she turned around, gauging the distance between her mouth and his ears. He was quite a ways back. "But the _honeymoon_ is going fine,"

"...should I ask?"

Belle considered the question. "Yeah, you can,"

"Well, then, what's the problem?"

In another booth at the diner, Sister Astrid looked out at the guests, the empty cart still beside her. In another few minutes, she decided, she'd go pick up the dirty dishes. Leroy was sitting at the booth directly behind her. Without turning around, he said;

"Are you still involved with the convent?"

She was startled by his voice, so much so that she jumped and missed the question without having to think hard to remember it. Her first response was "Dreamy!" and she immediately turned around in her seat to see him. "Uh, well, I'm still working with the Sisters,"

Blue, who was sitting with her at the table, tensed up at the conversation.

"Do you like it?" he added; "Being a nun,"

"Ah...it's alright," it felt almost perfectly natural, since she'd been a nun for so long. It was clear he was trying to find something to talk about, though, so she filled in. "How have you been?"

Before he could answer, Blue intervened. "Perhaps now would be a good time for you to start gathering the dishes, Nova,"

"Oh, okay," she was uneasy. Leroy, not wanting to end the conversation in spite of Mother Superior's indignance, said;

"I'll help you,"

"Oh, really? Thank you," as usual, she was sincerely grateful. It must have been unusual for someone to offer her help. He got up from his seat and placed his glass and plate on the tray.

"I wouldn't expect to see you here, Leroy," Blue told him with her tone of cold professionalism.

"Henry did help me get my memories back, too, you know,"

Neither of them said anymore, but Nova sensed their tension and, of course, became a bit nervous. As she started picking up the dishes, she dropped a plate- fortunately not breaking it. Grumpy came to her aide and grabbed it.

"Here. I got it,"

The low muttering kept going with the clanking of dishes. A few people asked Nova for refills, which she willingly fetched as soon as it was requested, slowing her down a little- but it wasn't like she was being timed. Henry had both of his mothers laughing and Mary Margaret chatted with David about Emma and Neal being siblings. As far as everyone was concerned, everything was right with the world. Within a few moments, Snow came back in, balancing all the dishes they had been using. Sister Astrid had already taken the others into the kitchen, so she took them back herself.

"Knock, knock," although she said it softly, she still startled the girl. "I brought in my dishes. Sorry," her eyes drifted over to a familiar dwarf, and she smiled. "Grumpy- glad you came, I didn't-"

"Expect to see me here?" he interjected with a grin. "Here, I'll take that for you," there were very few people he'd offer to help so willingly. She responded with an overly-sincere smile.

"Thank you," she let him take her dishes. "And, thank you for helping out Sister Astrid with the dishes. That was very kind of you,"

She left before he could come up with anything to say, taking the cake slicer with her.

"You...don't think it has anything to do with you?" Ruby was empathetically concerned. Belle just shrugged and relaxed in the seat, satisfied with the amount she'd eaten, drinking her re-fill of iced tea.

"With Rumple, I sort of have to understand what's my problem and what isn't," her eyes briefly drifted towards Snow. "I mean...he's...he's been through a lot, lately. Maybe we just need to slow things down and...that was the way he said it,"

Mary-Margaret's voice cut through the noise in the diner as she approached Henry; "Come on, Henry!" she held the cake slicer out; "You have to cut the cake!"

"There's cake?" he clearly didn't notice the thing on his way in. That was hard to believe, since it was pretty big- it had to be enough to feed everyone in the room. Without hesitating, Henry got up, took the slicer, and made way for said cake. Sister Astrid rushed about, trying to make sure the dessert dishes made it to the tables. "What kind is it?"

"It's chocolate cake with vanilla-cinnamon frosting. Your mom thought you'd like it,"

"Which one?"

"Both of them," Henry laughed. "Now, time to cut the first slice. You'll be serving everyone, so be careful,"

He nodded. Snow waved for everyone; "Come up and get your cake!"

And everyone did. Henry got the hang of things after a while and started asking them how big of a piece they wanted, since not everyone was a fan of this particular combination, nor did they necessarily want a large piece.

"You're a natural, Henry," Snow told him, again putting on her "royal queen" attitude. "I'm pleased,"

When everyone was finally served, he took a piece for himself and rejoined the table he came from. Ruby, unexpectedly, came over to him with a mug of hot chocolate, complete with cinnamon sprinkles.

"I thought you might like this with your cake,"

"Thanks!" he smiled and nodded. Granny came behind, spooning ice cream onto everyone's plates.

Everyone eagerly enjoyed their desserts. The diner was significantly quieter. Even Henry had lost some of his energy. As the dishes clanked together and Nova made rounds to pick them up once more, Snow reminded everyone that it was time for gifts by handing the mayor the microphone from earlier. Regina stood up and took the microphone from her non-forcibly.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," she spoke cordially. "As you all know, we are here to celebrate our hero Henry," the whole room cheered. "Henry, at first I wasn't sure what to get you as a gift, but I've come up with something I think you'll enjoy," everyone in the room turned to her with interest. Their skepticism, while not completely erased, was placed on the back burner for now. "As Mayor of this town, I declare that this day- June 17th- shall become a regional holiday in recognition of Henry's bravery,"

It was about the hundredth time that night that the boy was left ecstatic but speechless. Regina handed the microphone back to Mary-Margaret.

"Don't expect free food every year," Granny jabbed in good fun. A few laughed.

David, having been told by Snow that the gifts were being opened, cautiously entered. Neal seemed to be coming out of sleep, but wasn't quite awake yet; most of them noticed this and stayed quiet. He picked up a rectangular box and handed it to Henry.

"What is it?"

"Snow put wrapping paper on it so you could open it and find what's inside,"

Henry grinned and opened it. "Oh! Oh-cool! A real sword! My very first real sword!"

David nodded. "About the only thing you can do with it right now is hang it on your wall, but I thought it would be a nice surprise,"

"It is! It is!" he hugged his grandfather; "Thank you!"

He was, unfortunately, so loud he awakened Neal, who was not happy about this disruption. David hurried back outside with him.

Emma handed him her own gift. It was a game of darts. "I figured," she explained; "it would make good target practice,"

"Target practice? For what?"

"For this," Snow set another long box down in front of him. Opening it, it was a package of arrows. The next item was completely unwrapped, as it was quite difficult to wrap an archery bow. His face lit up yet again.

"This-this is great, guys!"

Regina and Emma were both quietly displeased with the idea of their son learning to fight with those things, but David had made the very real point to them that no one could guarentee Henry's complete and total safety. He would be a lot better off if he learned to.

The next one to come around was Blue. She offered the box to him. When he opened it, he found a watch. "This watch is made from a charm that's been blessed with good fortune. It used to be a necklace, but we thought you'd like this better. Here," she motioned for him to stick out his hand and put it on him. "Fortune favors the bold. So long as you are kind and brave, luck will be on your side,"

The gifts went on. Belle grabbed a box from the wrapped stack and handed it to him. She didn't say anything, but she certainly looked uneasy about it. Once he opened it, he saw that it was a book. On the cover was written "Mythology: Fairytales of Ancient People."

"The only thing I knew you really liked is that book, so I got you this one,"

"I love it," he set it down and scooted over to give her a hug. It was intended to calm her and show his appreciation, though it was a little awkward.

"Rumple, did you get him anything?"

"Check the book," he answered. Given the context, it almost seemed that he was referring to being in on the gift Belle got him, but he pointed his finger towards the counter. They turned their heads to find the "Once Upon a Time" book. Regina, being the closest to it, picked it up and handed it over to her son. Curiously, he opened it, and found his own story on the pages that followed Emma's past-altered story- pages that hadn't been there before- detailing how he was the only one who could make the savior believe in herself.

"I-I'm in here?!"

"It's about time," Emma commented.

"Did you write me in, Mr. Gold?"

Rumplestiltskin took a bit of a pause, disguising the fact that he needed a moment to think of a response with a deep breath, and then said; "Those pages only appear to tell stories about heros, Henry,"

"So...the book wrote me in?!" the question was more rhetorical than anything.

"Don't sound so surprised," Snow told him. "Heros come in many forms. Sometimes, the hero is the person who steals his teacher's credit card to trek across the country and find the one person who can help," a few of them, including Henry, laughed at that one.

Regina, however, realized that this wasn't a direct answer from the town gold-spinner. She was relatively certain that he didn't have the power to add more to the book, but typically, the stories would show up in their places immediately as the actions were taking place. Besides that, they only reflected the events that took place in the Enchanted Forest. There weren't any stories of Storybrooke here except for that one. Yet, those pages were authentic. She approached the booth right next to Henry's, which was where his paternal grandfather sat, and placed both arms on the table.

"Well-played, Gold,"

"What exactly are you referring to, Madame Mayor?" he said the last part with a heavy deal of sarcasm, though it would be hard to tell, since his sarcastic voice wasn't much different from his regular voice.

"Oh, I think you know,"

"...perhaps I do,"

And that was the end of it.

Belle turned towards him; "What was that about?"

"Nothing important, I'm sure,"

"Oh, um," Emma reached for a box she'd stashed under the table. "Killian couldn't make it tonight, but he wanted me to give you this from him,"

"He got me a gift?"

She nodded. When he gave it to her, he told her he didn't think he should go, but that he thought it was the right thing to do to get the boy a gift- so he did. Henry opened it eagerly. Inside was a fishing pole and a bait-and-tackle box Hook put together himself. "He says he wants to take you out fishing and get you used to the sea,"

"Cool!"

"Was that all the presents?" Mary-Margaret looked around. The stack of presents had pretty well disappeared. "Okay. Then we just have one more thing we'd like to do. Come here, Henry," she picked up his first real sword from the table and motioned for Emma and Regina. The made their way out of the crowd, and the crowd allowed it. "Henry, we need you to get down- kneel, with one knee," she instructed.

Regina turned to face the others. "No, it's not a proposal,"

"Don't move, okay?" Emma told him; he nodded. Both of his mothers grabbed the hilt of the sword in addition to Snow.

"Henry," his grandmother took care of most of the talking; "do you hereby swear to defend anyone in need, to speak the truth and the full truth, to remain loyal to those whom you love, to conduct yourself with bravery and honor, to behave prudently and keep yourself protected whenever this does not conflict with your other vows," Regina glanced at her, clearly disapproving of this clause; "to not let your fear determine your behavior, and to tell us of your grand adventures whenever you happen upon them?"

His face may break from the big smile across his face as she spoke. "I do!" he answered enthusiastically.

"Then, it is hereby acknowledged," she raised her head to look at the crowd; "that Henry has become a knight, and is worthy of the title 'Sir,'"

They gently pulled the sword back, careful not to nick him. In excitement, he practically flung himself up and became the starter of a group hug; Snow was careful with only one arm, since she was the one left holding the sword.

"We've been planning this for weeks," Regina told him, squeezing him tightly.

"Yeah. Actually, it was Regina's idea," evidently, a year away from Henry did a lot to show her how much she appreciated him.

"Aren't knighting ceremonies supposed to be comemorated with some sort of games?" Belle asked.

"Yes," Snow answered; "but we didn't have the armor, and his horse is in the shop,"

She grinned as she realized it was a joke.

"Now, for the fun part," Emma sighed, looking around the room. "Clean-up,"

Regina took Henry back to her house for the night. Dr. Hopper (who had been among the guests for the night) stayed behind among the rest to help clean up. It wasn't as bad as they thought with so many of them there.

"So, what else are you guys planning to do on your 'honeymoon?'" Ruby asked, making airquotes around the word.

"There isn't a whole lot planned. Just spending time together, really," she answered. "He closed his shop down for a few days and some of the volunteers are helping out at the library,"

Emma cut the cake down for those who really liked it and wanted to take it home. Snow came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder. "Here, let me help you,"

"Thanks, but I think I've got it,"

Nevertheless, she insisted on giving her daughter the much unneeded- but still appreciated- help. They ended up taking the most of it home, but with everyone who had attended, there wasn't that much left. Blue and Nova (and, to Blue's distaste, Leroy) took care of the dishes. Jiminy helped clean up the bars and counters.

Finally, Granny said; "Well, I guess that's about it. This place looks just about good enough to open tomorrow morning," she opened the door; "David, you can come in now. The cleaning's done,"

He chuckled and grabbed the car seat. Baby Neal was resting against his shoulder, so he tried not to jostle him around too much as he came in. The sun had set by now- it was already passed 9:00pm.

"Bring me my baby!" Mary-Margaret demanded at low volume.

"He isn't sleeping," said David, handing him over. "He wanted to be held,"

"I'm sure he needs to eat, too,"

"Nah, I gave him a bottle," just as he spoke, the motion of being situated on his mother's shoulder made him burp. Her face went completely deadpan as he got spit-up all over the back of this shirt, too.

"You just can't keep doing that, Neal,"

"Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah," Emma grabbed their helping of the cake and some left-over pizza. Ruby, noticing that she was having trouble balancing them, came to her aide.

"Here," she smiled. "We have some 'to-go' containers in the back, you know. I'll go get them,"

"Yeah," Emma nodded; "Thanks,"

David grabbed his pen and check book, and started writing on a piece of paper. "How much would cover it?"

"It's my gift to Henry," Widow Lucas brushed her hand through the air as if pushing the idea away. "It's about time someone showed that boy some appreciation,"

"Thanks," David put the check book back in his pocket, noting from her tone that she probably wouldn't be willing to do this again. "Have a good night,"

"Good night. Now, go home," she said it lightly enough that he wondered if she was joking. Ruby looked to Belle.

"Have a good night,"

She leaned over and wrapped her arm around Rumple's. "We will,"

They disbanded on that note.

"Hey, Emma," Mary-Margaret situated Neal in the vehicle; "since you have to drop us off, anyways, why don't you just spend the night?"

"Do you have room?"

She nodded. "We keep Neal's crib in our room, so the spare room is still set up for you...if you want," she got in beside her infant son, leaving David in the passenger seat up front. As Emma started the car, she grabbed her arm. "I've really missed having you around,"

Hesitantly, the blonde nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, okay,"

The car ride on the way home put Neal back to sleep. It was nearly ten at that time. David took him to bed immediately, and Snow walked with Emma to the spare room.

"We haven't had much time to remodel since we've been back," she said, sitting down on the bed and eagerly patting the space of mattress beside her.

"Don't you want to sleep?" her daughter asked, sitting beside her.

"I will, but right now I want to spend time with you,"

"...alright. Um..." conversations were a lot less strained before they realized they were family.

Mary-Margaret came to her aide. "You know what? I've been reading Neal bedtime stories every night. Well, except tonight," a strike of realization crossed her face. "Hey, here's an idea, why don't I read you one?"

"..." Emma was stunned at the suggestion. "I'm...I'm an adult,"

"Is there an age at which people stop enjoying bedtime stories? In fact..." she bent over so that her arms could reach the spot just under the bed. "You read them yourself, don't you?"

The book she pulled out was her Winnie the Pooh book. "How did you know about that?"

"Is it that strange to keep your favorite book under the bed?"

She didn't even ask why a grown adult woman owned, and frequently read, Winnie the Pooh stories. There was no judgment at all.

"Winnie the Pooh, huh? I don't know this one. I'm sure I'll love it. Okay, now, lay down,"

Emma was hesitant to do so, and it showed on her face.

"It's okay. Just get comfortable,"

Eventually, she relented, though she didn't completely relax. She sat with her upper body propped up on the headboard. Mary-Margaret didn't push her, she just opened to the first page.

"...In a little house deep in the Hundred-Acre Wood, a very round bear named Winnie the Pooh was doing his slimming exercises. He was breathing deeply when, all of a sudden, he felt his tummy rumble..." she smiled at the pages as she read; "'Oh my,' said Pooh," the blonde couldn't conceal the grin that came when she gave him a different voice; "'This up-and-downing is making me hungry...ahaha, I love 'Winnie the Pooh' already!"

As the book went on, Emma couldn't help herself. She relaxed on the bed and watched as her mother got involved with the story she was telling. Pretty soon, she'd fallen asleep.


	2. Skadoo

Title: Meant to Be

Alternate Title: There is no Excuse for This

Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters. Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with headcannons. Because sometimes, things just happen differently.

-

Chapter Two: Skadoo

Chapter Summary: An unfamiliar person arrives in Storybrooke.

A/N: Hi there! So sorry I didn't include a note in my first chapter. I normally try to leave some sort of communication with my readers in every chapter, but I was so eager to get the first one up that I just forgot about it.  
Fun fact: I found the Really Bad Analogies post on my facebook, and I literally included that whole thing just so I could have an excuse to use them for something. I will shamelessly reference media-related things for fun in this story.  
If you have anything you'd like to ask about or comment on, feel free to review :) I love to hear from my readers, and random messages are always welcome!

-  
It was another couple days before Emma got back at the helm of being a sheriff. Her first day back was a Wednesday. At eight in the morning, she came scrambling in with a donut in her mouth, and went absent-mindedly through some paperwork that was stacked haphazardly on the desk. She didn't even notice the person in the cell, until he said something:

"Um...hello?"

She jumped and uttered a muffled cry into her donut, then quickly pulled it out from her teeth and demanded; "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

"My name is Steven," he answered; "and I'm asking myself that same question,"

Out from behind him came a girl in a blue hoodie. She appeared to be of Asian descent and had a big, beaming smile on her face, as though she had accomplished something great.

"This is Azzie," he said; "She's my familiar. If you let us out of here, I'll try to explain everything,"

Emma, after inspecting the cell door from the outside, simply walked over and opened it.

"It wasn't locked,"

Flashback to Unknown Universe  
In the previous weeks.

It was the middle of the afternoon. Officer Penn- now, really "just Steven-" was rather enjoying his afternoon away from work. It was a particularly noisy day, with multiple shops and fruit-cart owners clamoring for business. On the side of the road was a scraggly-looking man in what appeared to be old robes, sitting with a canvas and a few different paints. There was a woman in front of him in an old wooden rocking chair.

"What's that?" asked his mother, coming up behind him.

"Looks like an artist painting portraits. You guys want one?"

Before either of his parents could answer, the man spoke- with a deep, gravelly voice they didn't expect. "'Tis my gift, boy," he handed the woman a painting. "I can paint pictures from the future,"

His previous client glanced down at her painting. It was a church building from the inside, with rows of people in black attire.

"A funeral? I'm...going to die?"

"Not yet. See?" he pointed to a spectator. "That's you,"

"Then...who?"

"That, I can't say. I can only paint _your_ future,"

She nodded and handed him a fistful of coins. "Thank you, Mr. Kohler,"

He nodded and sent her on her way. By then, Steven was already pretty skeptical. This may well have been a world where magic was everywhere, but that didn't keep the con-men at bay. In fact, it bolstered them. If you thought magicians and false prophets were a dime a dozen in a magic-less world, there were a ton more here. Of course she would attend another funeral in her life.

"What about you, boy?"

He froze.

"Come on, indulge an old man. First one's free,"

He sighed and turned back to his parents. "You guys mind?"

"Not at all, you go ahead," his mother smiled. "I want to go look at the jewelers again. Come on, Thomas,"

"Alright. Meet back up with us, Steven,"

He nodded and approached the chair. "Go ahead, then,"

"Splendid! You can relax a little, it's not like a regular portrait. You don't have to hold still,"

From this proximity, the man smelled strongly of ale. It was a testament to all mankind that he was coherent enough to talk and steady enough to lift the brush. He tried to relax.

"You want something to drink, officer? I have some ale to spare,"

Why wasn't he surprised? "No, thank you; I prefer not to drink,"

"Suit yourself," the man shrugged and took a swig out of a small, tin paint can- probably his version of a shotglass- either that, or he was drunk enough to thoroughly enjoy drinking paint. Steven really regretted having sat down. "What's your name, anyways?"

"Steven. You?"

"Carl Kohler. I came with a last name,"

When the officer didn't reply, the painter seemed to take the hint. A couple more brush strokes later, he handed the painting over.

It was definitely an odd picture- himself behind bars, standing behind him a little girl whom he'd never seen in his life. He hadn't even met that many Asians in this town. "Who's this supposed to be?" he asked, even though he already knew the thing was a farce.

"You've never met her?"

"No,"

There was a pause. The drunk painter was either thinking, or had just had a moment of lucidity in the alcohol haze and realized he was actually really confused. Finally, he said; "Do you know what familiars are, officer?"

"Human spirits who manifest as pets," he answered as though it were some kind of quiz.

"Perhaps she's yours,"

Steven said nothing, but began digging in his pocket. He grabbed a scant handful of coins.

"I said the first one's free, boy,"

"I know what you said," he took the man's arm and plopped the money down in his hand. "Buy yourself some food or something, 'kay? Something other than booze. Take something home, to your family,"

"Family?" Carl scoffed. "Well, thanks for the sentiment,"

"At least get yourself a glass," Steven said, motioning with his gaze towards the paint tin he'd been drinking out of. "And...maybe get a shave, too. Just my advice. You might get more customers if people could see your face,"

Carl bellowed out a drunken laugh, halting Steven from his standing motion. "Deal," was all he said.

There was, after that, no more to be said, so Steven simply left.

The Next Day  
Cont. Flashback

Officer Penn stood outside of an old house that looked to be abandoned. The front lawn was way over-grown and populated with insects crawling everywhere. In his right hand, he clutched a piece of paper that read "Warrant for a Natural Search." This classification meant he could investigate using his five senses, but no magic. That warrant would have to come later.

"Azzie," he snapped his fingers and his dog- a blue merle-coated mutt- stood beside him in an instant. "Come on. Let's play Clue,"

The dog barked in agreement as Steven picked the lock. Azure- also called 'Azzie'- rushed ahead of her owner. He didn't bother telling her to slow down. Out of his pocket, he pulled a sketch pad, complete with a pencil and began sketching the lay-out of the house.

It was minimally furnished, with only a hand-carved wooden chair in the living room to sit on. Beside it was a small end table with a candle on it, and then a bookcase- maybe about three feet in length on all sides- with only two shelves. Inside, there were exactly five books, but there were also articles from newspapers detailing the recent presidential elections.

So far, the victim was a craftsman with an interest in politics. He flipped the page, but before he could start again, he heard a demanding whine coming from the bathroom.

"Yes, dear," he called out to his dog with a healthy degree of sarcasm. Officer Penn approached and looked inside the door. There was a soft dust print on the side of the bathtub left from his dog. He looked inside and found the plug still in the drain, holding in a little water. "Good thinking," he patted her head, then made a note on the pad.

Once that was done, Azzie left the room in favor of another- the bedroom where the body was found. It was the most furnished room he'd seen so far, with an actual bed and then two mattresses on the floor. A dusty pawprint rested on a nearly empty bottle of wine. It took a minute to figure out that there were splashes of blood on the dark brown glass. The blood stains on the dingy beige carpet had an unnatural purple tint; he took note of it, though it wasn't terribly strange for someone's blood to be a little odd in color. Azzie nosed the splotches on the carpet and barked. Steven sighed.

"Speaking dog is not my power, Azzie,"

She whined, wagged her tail, and left the room. He stayed behind this time, to investigate more of the evidence. There was a large dresser in the room, some drawers closed and some wide open and over-flowing with clothes. It was looking more and more like some sort of hide-out every second. Since there were no paintings on the wall, he planted one- on top of the dresser; the one he'd gotten in town the previous day. It was something like a "bug," for someone with the power to jump inside pictures and access a "recording" of what happened. At least he'd be able to see if the criminal returned to the crime scene. If there were any other paintings in here, he would have been able to see what exactly happened on the night of the crime, but there weren't.

"Bark! Bark-bark!"

"Be patient," he scribbled down a few more noes, then met up with his dog in the kitchen. What he found was Azure, stretched up on her hind legs, pawing at a closed cabinet door. He opened it and found probably a hundred medicines, some of which were herbs or plants. As per usual, he sketched it, and listed the names of the ones he could identify.

"Looks like we've busted open more than just this murder case,"

Azzie tilted her head. He checked the other cabinets and made sketches. Within the next few minutes, he was done.

"Time to go sort all this out," he said, pocketing the pen. "Let's go, Azzie,"

-

Sheriff Swan certainly didn't know of any fairytales that involved a detective named Steven. There was enough mythology on shape-shifting animals, but- no detectives.

Nevertheless, she knew he was telling the truth.

"You're probably going to be here a while, Detective," she informed him. According to any and all sources, he should never have found his way in here in the first place. He was...an error in the system. "I don't know how you found your way in, and I don't know how we'll get you home. I'd make myself comfortable," Emma pulled out a newspaper to offer to him.

"Thanks," the took the newspaper uneasily. "Is there...uh...anything I can do to speed the process along?"

"If there is, I'll be in touch," she swiveled in her seat and shut the drawer. "Right now, I have to figure this out,"

He nodded hesitantly and left with both the child and the paper.

-

"That's what he told you?" Regina asked incredulously, lifting a brow as she heard Emma's story. Her front door was open, with the blonde standing outside.

She nodded. "He didn't seem to have any memory loss or confusion. It sounded like he wound up here on accident,"

"Yeah, except for one thing. It took one of the most powerful magicians in all the worlds centuries to come up with a spell that would bring us here. You don't just 'accidentally wind up in Storybrooke,'"

"Well, he wasn't lying,"

"Maybe it's a false memory, or a lapse in the magic- I don't know, but I've never even heard that name before,"

"...okay," Emma sighed.

"The only one who might know other than me is-"

"Gold, I know," but he still had three more days left on his 'honeymoon.'

"Okay. Well, go on, I have better things to do than stand here and let the air out," Regina started to close the door, then stopped. "Oh. You might ask Henry if he can identify him,"

That was a novel idea. "Yeah, thanks,"

And then she actually shut the door.

-

David didn't know anyone by the name of Steven Penn, and as sheriff he hadn't booked anyone recently enough for them to be in the sheriff's holding cell. The only one left who might have answers was relatively unreachable. Emma called his phone until the line went dead, and still got nothing. She tried the shop. The sign was flipped to "Closed" and he door was actually locked this time.

Sheriff Swan sucked in a deep breath of exasperation and puffed her cheeks as she let it out.

What exactly was she supposed to do now?

-

"Hello! How are you today, sir?" Ruby approached the table with a notebook and pencil in her hands.

It was Steven sitting there, across from a young girl. She wondered if this girl was his daughter, and if so, how- since she was of a different nationality- but refrained from asking. He responded with a dreary, disoriented look.

"As well as I could expect," was his answer.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Yeah, I'll..." he struggled with the menu items. "How about just water?" it was the only thing he had a concept of on the whole list, aside from tea, which he never really liked.

"Sure! And something to eat?"

He smiled sheepishly, glancing down at still more text. It was clear that he had no idea what anything was.

"You know...why don't I just...bring you some samples from our lunch menu, and then you can decide?"

"...yeah, that might be nice, thanks,"

Where exactly had he ended up? Jumping inside a picture had never taken him away from home before. Azzie seemed completely undisturbed by the whole thing. The only thing he knew was that he needed to get back. His wife was due to go into labor within the next few weeks. It didn't help that this English just seemed so weird- it was normal one minute, but then there was "soda" or "bologna" and he would get snapped back into reality.

Pretty soon, the waitress came back with a tray and tiny plastic cups that had various food items in them. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you before, but this will add another dollar to your charge,"

He nodded to show he understood, and started trying whatever was picked at random.

"That's Granny's Signature Burger. It's a best seller here," she explained.

"I can see why, it's fantastic!" some of the frustration disappeared from his face. Ruby grinned with a delight to see his mood improve. Steven was eager to try the rest.

"That one's...um...experimental. I'm trying to create my own signature dish..." perhaps she should have considered this better and not brought a piece of a hot chicken sandwich to someone who couldn't even puzzle his way through the menu. His eyes dialated and he choked. "Oh-!" she practically squeaked, patting his back instinctively.

He brought himself back after a second.

"I-I'm so sorry, I-I didn't-" Ruby couldn't get the words out.

He shook his head. "No worries, no worries," his voice was still a bit strained. "I liked it, I just- wasn't expecting that,"

Azzie was grinning with the utmost amusement, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Steven took a drink of his water. Then, he simply took another small cup with something inside it.

"And, what's this?"

"It's our family chili recipe. Be careful, that one's a little spicy,"

He chuckled. "I'll be ready this time," he took the small spoonful that was in there and tried it. Immediately after the food hit his tongue, he set the cup down on the tray and pounded the table. Ruby, shocked and horrified that this might happen again, reached for him, but he pushed her away.

"This is my favorite thing so far," he said once he finished; "How do I-"

She giggled. "I'll get it, that's...that's my job. What about her?"

The little girl played with the menu, not even trying to read it.

"What do they usually order?"

"Usually, uh, they either get chicken or a burger..."

"Well, you can bring her one of those...'hamburger' things, then,"

"And to drink?"

"Maybe some milk?"

The waitress disappeared with that tray. After she was gone, a boy came out of one of the booths and approached him with some hesitance.

"Hey, there. My name's Henry. Who 're you?"

Was this considered normal? Did people in this world simply walk up to tables and introduce themselves?

Maybe it was just the town. There were friendlier towns back home, after all.

"I'm Steven. This is Azzie- short for Azure," the little girl immediately turned to face Henry. She scooted to the edge of the booth and raised her forearm, elbow bent with palm facing down- like a dog doing the "shake" command. The pre-teen boy was slow to take the hint, but he got it and shook her hand.

"What's 'Azure' mean?"

"Blue," Steven answered. "It's a shade of blue,"

"Oh," he grinned with relief. "So, is she a fairy?"

"I'm sorry, is she a _what_?"

"Oh, um, nevermind," Henry had stuck his foot in his mouth somehow. Maybe he should have considered the possibility that this guy didn't know about magic. He didn't even know how to explain himself, so he just changed the topic. "Have you ever been here before?"

"Absolutely not,"

"So, what brings you here?"

He paused at drinking his water to answer. "I landed here by accident. I'm not from...'here,'"

"Really?" even this kid was in disbelief. Steven sighed, no longer even remotely interested in this conversation. "Have you seen the sheriff yet?"

"No. I was at the sheriff's department, but I only saw a woman,"

"A woman? ...was her name 'Emma?'"

Steven hesitated. "Why do you ask so many questions?" but then he nodded.

"She _is_ the sheriff," he told him. "Emma Swan. She's also my mom,"

The detective was in the middle of drinking water when he heard that the woman was a sheriff. He choked, spitting the water all over the table.

"...uhh..." Henry furrowed his brows.

"Come on back to the table, Henry," a man's voice called.

"Yeah, our dinner's here," a woman with short, black hair informed as Ruby sat down the plates over at their table. The pre-teen awkwardly made his way back to that table without saying anything more.

Steven wiped up the mess with some napkins. The waitress came over to help;

"Was he bothering you?"

He smiled politely. "Ah, he's just a kid, I guess,"

"Yeah, that's...Henry. He's...definitely one of a kind,"

Steven nodded.

"Your order is coming right up. Would you like a refill?"

"Yes, please,"

"And I'll bring her another milk,"

The girl left, and he looked to Azzie.

"Are you a fairy?" he joked. She just smiled at him. "Nah. You're not a fairy,"

The drinks returned with the food. Apparently, the "chili" came with a "side" salad (it didn't seem any different than a regular salad, but smaller) and crackers and "burgers" came with "french fries."

"You should try putting this on your fries," Red handed Azure a bottle of red sauce labeled "ketchup." She gazed at it quizzically, then obediently took it and tried a little. Steven was absolutely certain he'd never seen such a look of pure glee, and all he could do was laugh.

"Alright, you two go ahead and enjoy your meals, and call for me if you need anything,"

When the meal was over, that young girl came back to their table.

"The total is seventeen-oh-one," she set the receipt down.

He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins Ruby had certainly never seen before. She stared at them in shock as he set them down in her hand, looking incredibly nervous and confused.

"Is that not enough?"

"...umm..." she looked at him, then back to the coins, over and over, in rapid succession. "...uhh..." she struggled to get herself together. "...hang on..." she left the table and disappeared behind the door to the kitchen. It wasn't long before an indignant, elderly woman came out.

"What exactly is going on here?" her tone was less than pleasant.

"I have no idea," he answered honestly.

"What the hell is this?" she held up one of the coins.

"It's...money...?" what else was he supposed to say?

Granny crossed her arms and huffed, thrown off for a second. Realizing that he wasn't playing some kind of prank, she simply told him "Well, that money's no good here. You couldn't use that anywhere in _America_,"

"..." he was flabbergasted. "...I'm..._from_ America..."

"What's going on over here?" the adult male from the table Henry was sitting at stopped them in the middle of the argument.

"Nothing, I'm just being pilfered. You've paid your bill,"

The man smiled at her as though humoring her. "Here," he pulled a checkbook out of his back pocket. "Just take it off what I owe you. What was the total?"

"Seventeen-oh-one," Ruby spoke for the first time since the older woman came out.

"It's not your problem, David,"

"Ah, come on, my wife and-...nephew..." knowing that their positions as grandparents might be odd to an outsider, he chose 'nephew' instead; "are over there, I have to show of a little. Here, I added in a tip too," he handed it to her. Seemingly exasperated, she took the check and left.

"Um, thanks," Steven looked to the guy. "I owe you one,"

David shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Welcome to Storybrooke,"

-

Flashback to Unknown Universe  
In the previous weeks.

The next step, in this case, was to conduct interviews with those who knew the deceased. His first appointment was with the man's sister, a woman by the name of Sarah. She stepped inside his office, and he immediately recognized her as the woman who had the funeral picture painted before he did on that day in the town. This person acted completely different. She was timid and hesitant, even looking uncertain when she realized he was familiar.

"It's nice to see you, detective," she said; "Do you remember me from town the other day?"

It had to be a coincidence, right? "Yes, I do,"

"..." she looked down. "I didn't expect it to be my brother," she mumbled, her voice wavering as she struggled not to cry. Steven handed her a few tissues. "Thanks,"

He gave a single nod. "I'm very sorry for the circumstances," he gave her a couple moments in silence after saying that, letting her get herself together.

"Thank you," she sniffled. "You said you needed to ask me some questions?"

"Yes," he grabbed his notebook. "What do you know about your brother's current life, Mrs. Brown?"

The look that crossed her face was a grimace. Steven saw this look enough as a detective. It always preceeded an 'I don't know.' She didn't disappoint him.

"To be honest, we lost touch about ten years ago. There was a...a rift in the family, and we fell out because of it,"

"Mm-hm. Can you be more specific about the circumstances of this rift?"

"...not really...I mean, we discovered that some family members had been taking drugs. It caused a lot of chaos. After that, I moved. I came down here to find him, but by the time I did..." tears choked her back again. The detective allowed her a few moments of peace again.

"I see. Can you tell me what kind of person your brother was before your family separated?"

"Richard was the best older brother you could ask for. I mean, he had a temper, but he was always there for me,"

"And what kind of things did he get mad about?"

She laughed. "He got mad when people didn't treat our family right- or anyone, really. Sometimes, he was a little paranoid..."

"Do you know if your brother had any enemies or if he was involved in any violent behavior?"

"There were plenty of people who didn't like him. He wasn't very popular at church because he was constantly getting into squabbles with the congregation. Once, he told a woman that she needed to stop talking about someone else's adultry when she had her own business to mind," Sarah giggled fondly at the memory, then choked back on emotions. "Pop scolded him that whole night after we got home, but I was happy someone told her that finally. Joan was a _terrible_ gossip...but, mind you, it's been...what...fifteen years now, since that tiff. I can't imagine someone taking a life over a little argument like that, much less one that happened fifteen years ago,"

"What about any friends who were involved in questionable behavior?"

There was a flash of uncertainty and hesitance on her face before she answered with a single syllable; "No,"

He let it slide, but took note of it on the paper where he was recording everything. "Do you know what he did for a living?"

"Last I heard, he was a construction worker. He built things on the side for extra cash,"

"...I see," so far, this Richard fellow was sounding quite normal. "Do you know if your brother was involved in any of the drug-linked behavior in your family?"

She paused to consider the question. "He never was to my knowledge,"

"Okay," he made a check mark on the notebook paper and stood up to shake her hand. She followed suit. "Thank you very much for your time, Mrs..." Steven blanked on her last name.

"Just call me Sarah," she giggled; "and, you're welcome,"

Present Day  
Storybrooke, Maine

It was getting nearly seven in the evening when Emma decided to call it quits on the hunts for the day. She was exhausted and hungry; all she wanted right then was to get Henry and go home. He had been with Mary-Margaret, David, and Neal for the last nine hours, and she couldn't imagine his sentiments would be any different. She didn't want her parents to feel left out, but Henry just wasn't interested in babies...fortunately for any mother who didn't want her teenage son becoming a father.

The front door opened before she could knock.

"Shh," it was her birth mother; "we just got Neal to sleep. Come on in,"

Emma nodded and stepped inside. "Where's Henry?" she whispered, following along with the general silence of the house.

She motioned for the living room and headed for the kitchen. "In there,"

Once she got in there, she found Prince Charming sitting beside her son, playing a videogame that was on mute with him. Of course. Realizing it would be a big hassle to get him to leave right now ("Wait mom, I'm almost done with this level, hang on, I have to get to a save point, mom, stop, I want to save the game..."), she just let out a big breath of air and flopped onto the couch.

"I thought you were going to teach him how to use a sword,"

"It got dark out,"

Mary-Margaret peeked out into the living room and tried to say something, but Emma couldn't understand her; she was talking too softly.

"I can't hear you,"

She sighed and came all the way into the living room. "I said, 'Would you like to stay for dinner?' We had a big lunch, so we're not having a lot for dinner, but there's definitely plenty for you if you want to stay,"

Emma was hesitant to take her up on her offer, but the notion of not having to drive all the way home and cook something or order food proved too tempting to pass up. "...yeah," she nodded, then lay her head back on the couch with her eyes closed. "I'll stay for dinner,"

It was early into the next morning when yet another mysterious person showed up in the sheriff's office, standing behind the cell. In her two gloved hands, she held an umbrella, up-side-down. With a bit of a huff, she thumped the top of it on the ground, then walked out of the already wide-open cage in the room. 


	3. Spit-Spot

Title: Meant to Be

Alternate Title: There is no Excuse for This

Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters. Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with headcannons. Because sometimes, things just happen differently.

-

Chapter Three: Spit-Spot

Chapter Summary: An unfamiliar person arrives in Storybrooke.

A/N: This arc came from a few random headcannons I had even before Once Upon A Time become a thing. I thought this might be a good platform to share them on.

-

"Have you ever even seen her before?"

There was definitely discourse in the monastery that morning, all revolving around the appearance of a mysterious woman. At the moment, the unfamiliar person was making up beds, ignoring the chatter about her arrival. The question came from a very annoyed Sister Maggie, who stood before Mother Superior with her arms crossed.

"No," she responded; "No, I haven't. Girls, I'm sure you already have your assignments for this morning, so I'd suggest you get ready," there was no command in her voice, it sounded helpful rather than bossy. "I'll handle this,"

"Yes, Mother Superior," the Sisters gradually dispersed and thinned out.

Blue approached the new-comer in the bedroom cautiously while the others tended to their morning rituals. All things considered, this woman would get along with the rest of them almost perfectly. She looked to be in her late thirties or early fourties and kept her solid black hair up in a bun. Her garments were already typical of nuns. "Good morning," she started the conversation calmly.

"Good morning. As I understand it, you're the Superior in charge of these Sisters- how do you do?" she spoke with a strong, distinct English accent.

"I'm doing fine, thank you. The Sisters and I were wondering exactly who you are,"

"...hmm..." the woman pondered for an inordinately long time to gather up her own name. "Well, my name is Elizabeth,"

"Sister Elizabeth," she gave a firm nod as welcome, not mentioning her suspicion of the pause. "I see. Where are you from, if you don't mind telling me?"

"London. In England," she pointed out the window as though her home could be seen through it. That wasn't exactly the kind of answer she was looking for, but she let it go.

"London is quite a ways from here. How did you end up all the way...here?"

Again, the woman was clearly uncertain of how to answer. She was so involved in piecing together an appropriate response that her work on making the beds slowed down. "I came here to find someone who needs my help. I had to follow him; his trail led me here," there was a small pause between that sentence and the next. "I fully intend to earn my keep. When I arrived, it was quite late and there was no one to speak to. You needn't fuss over me; I promise, I'll only be here until the wind changes," Elizabeth finished the first bed; it looked straight enough that one could easily bounce a coin off it. Then she moved to the next one.

Someone needed to talk to Mr. Gold about those flimsy locks. Mother Superior nodded understandingly. "...alright," she sighed. "I suppose we can let you stay here temporarily. We only have one spare bed at the moment, so you'll have to share a room,"

"I have no complaints. Thank you for your generosity,"

-

By the time Emma arrived at the sheriff's department, Blue was already standing outside. Scrambled by this oddity, she checked the time on her wrist watch over the top of the half dozen box of donuts she was carrying in.

"It's only five passed eight," she informed, pulling the donut out of her mouth.

"I know, but I'm afraid it's urgent. I had to get here early,"

"Oh, um," she fumbled the box as she grabbed her keys; "okay. Well, just come on in and I'll help you as well as I can,"

"Thank you,"

The sheriff opened the door and let them both inside. Mother Superior took to standing beside the available chair, rather than sitting in it, while Emma took the chair behind the desk and got her notepad out.

"Well, then, what's the problem this morning?"

The nun cleared her throat; "Early this morning, before I even woke up, there was a strange person occupying the monastery," she looked up from the notepad immediately; "It's a woman I've never met before, and neither have any of the other girls. She claimed to be from London,"

"Did you happen to get her name?"

"That's another odd thing. She told me her name was Elizabeth, but when I asked, it seemed like it was incredibly difficult for her to come up with that," there was a slight pause, whereas Blue allowed Emma to write down whatever she needed to. "I heard talk yesterday that someone had arrived in town through an unknown portal. I fear that's what this may be. If things continue at this rate, who knows how bad they could be?"

"Yeah, I got it," the sheriff turned in the chair. "I'm going to have to hunt down Mr. Gold today and see-"

"You're relying on _him_ for help?"

Oh, right. "I'm guessing you have a better idea?"

"...Well, Henry was perceptive with our identities,"

She shook her head. "I spoke with Henry last night. He met Steven at Granny's- no idea who he is,"

Blue relented a bit with that, but added; "Just be careful, Emma,"

"I'm not afraid of him," she answered; "but, thanks,"

"I have plenty of work to do today, and I'll leave you to yours. Thank you for your time,"

Emma nodded. "You're welcome- thank you," once she was gone, the sheriff heaved a sigh and gathered a stack of paperwork. Her days' work was cut out for her. If more people were coming through this unknown portal, she didn't even have time to finish that half-eaten donut and make phone calls, she had to get to Mr. Gold's house right away. So, she did what any good sheriff would do and struggled out to her car with the stack of papers and a pastry hanging out of her mouth, catching a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror when she sat down.

When in the world did she become a sheriff eating donuts?  
She rolled her eyes at her own existence.

"A little after eight in the morning" was a bit early to be up for two people who had spent the last few days off. Nevertheless, Rumple was awake, sitting with his legs over the side of the bed. His hands were gripped onto Belle's shoulders, where she stood just a little higher than him; her eyes were open, but any view of consciousness stopped there.

"Belle," he shook her; she didn't hear. "Belle," her body moved around as though she were a sleeping person, yet she somehow stood. "Belle, come back to me," she blinked her eyes, muscles tensing up as she regained consciousness.

"What..." her voice came out thin and soft and she had to force her muscles to move to talk; "What happened?"

"I have no idea. Well, actually, I do. You suddenly got out of bed about five minutes ago and tried to pound your way through the bedroom window,"

"...what?" that response prompted an incredulous stare. He motioned for the window to the bedroom, which was now garnished with a crack.

"Then you started screaming- I had to bring you over here, and I've spent the last moments trying to wake you up,"

She rubbed her eyes with her whole arm. "That's really weird,"

It was quiet a moment. Now, it was his turn to be confused. "So, you have no idea what was going on, either?"

"No," her face felt wet and sticky and she knew it had to be swollen, but she had absolutely no idea what was the matter. "It...sounds like I was having a nightmare, but people usually remember nightmares..."

He started to respond, but was cut off by a knock at the door. He chose to ignore it in favor of conversation.

"When I was little, I used to sleepwalk all the time," she smiled and pushed out a small laugh; "that's probably all,"

Sleepwalkers didn't try to pound through glass. Rumple's face remained blank.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! _"Open up, Gold! I know you're in there!"

Belle turned around so she could face the voice, though the front door was downstairs and their bedroom door was closed. "That sounded like Emma,"

"Yes, it did,"

There was some relief on Belle's face. All she was wearing right at the moment was an overly-large pajama shirt, so she pulled on a pair of pants. His PJs were a complete set, so he didn't really have much he needed to do.

"You don't suppose we-" he was about to suggest that they leave her out there when another bang came;

"I need to talk to you!"

"We're coming, Emma!" she stumbled in her clothes, still not fully awake yet. "Come on, let's go see what she wants,"

He didn't really care to see what the sheriff wanted, but Belle had made up her mind before he could protest properly. The one thing he wanted to do less than open that door was try to convince her to just get back into bed and let the pests go away on their own. She helped him get down the stairs, allowing him to lean on her for extra support until they got there; then, she rushed for the door and opened it just before Emma could knock again.

"...ah...hey," there was something disorienting about seeing a woman opening up the door to Rumple's house, no matter how well she knew what was going on here. "I need to talk to Mr. Gold,"

He shifted so that he was in sight range. "I'm not terribly interested in conversing with anybody right now, Ms. Swan, so I suggest you say your piece and leave,"

"There's been a portal opened to Storybrooke. No one knows where and no one knows why. No one even knows where it's from, but we've had two people show up here in the last two days,"

"And what...exactly...does this have to do with me?"

The sheriff frowned and rolled her eyes. "We need you to help us figure out who they are and where they're from,"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because as long as that portal stays open, everyone here could be in danger. _Everyone_," her eyes darted towards Belle, who had been standing by the door silently the whole time. "And not just her. Henry's in danger too,"

He was about to make some other comment about this not being his problem, but evidently, he decided not to.

"What are we in danger from?" the sleepy-eyed girl asked.

"Because we don't know where they're coming from, we don't know what exists there, we don't know what they can do,"

"And because," Rumplestiltskin tapped his cane on the ground; "we don't know about this portal,"

Neither one of the two women there knew what he was talking about, but neither asked and he made no attempt to explain. Belle just nodded and started out the open front door. "We should go right now, then,"

"No, I'll go," he headed out the door behind her; "It's too dangerous,"

Emma backed out of the way to let them out.

"I'm going with you. I want to help,"

"I know you want to help," he heaved a sigh; she shut the door behind him. "But I've got this under control,"

"Then I'll come along for the ride,"

Something occurred to him right then, it was clear by the expression on his face and the way he relented. "...fine, but when we do find it, you mustn't get close to it. There are some portals that can just pull you right through,"

"That won't happen," she told him that so confidently, as though she could see the future and that wasn't even a possibility. As though she would have woken up that morning and thought 'I'm going to get sucked into a portal to Timbuktu today.'

"And what if it does?"

She smiled at him, letting a small few seconds of silence pass between them before she answered. "Then you'll come after me,"

"Are you guys coming?" Emma was already at her car, and getting impatient.

"Yeah. Come on, Rumple,"

-

Flashback  
Unknown Universe  
A day or so ago

The Warrant for a Magical Search came that morning, allowing him to use his power to obtain a record of events. Looking over the paperwork, he stepped out of his car and guided Azure up to the door on a leash. She entered the house first, of course, and headed straight for the picture. Azzie knew the drill. Criminals often returned to the scene of a crime.

"Bark! Bark!" she placed her paw on it. In the blink of an eye, her body shrunk down into it.

"Skadoo," the detective breathed, following behind her.

Within what felt like seconds, he felt his body hit concrete. He was behind the bars of a sheriff's jail cell in the middle of who-knows-where. Disoriented, he looked around for any indication of what was going on, and found only a little girl standing in there with him. She seemed happy that he'd arrived.

"Wh-who are you?" he asked, and it dawned on him not seconds after he asked. "Azzie?!" and she giggled soundlessly, patting him on the arm because she couldn't reach his head.

-

Flashback cont.  
Unknown Universe  
Later That Night

It was strange when the detective didn't go home that night, and even stranger when he didn't leave the last house he was investigating. Although no one else seemed to notice, there was a particular nun living with a convent in the area who was concerned enough to leave the monastery in the middle of the night in search of him. The door to the crime scene was yet unlocked, so she let herself in.

"Detective?" she called into the darkness. "Mr. Penn, is everything alright?" there was no answer. She turned on the light.

A few dusty pawprints led her into the bedroom. On the ground, she saw the portrait of her son behind bars. Relief crossed her face, and then she laughed.

"Oh, Steven," she placed her umbrella up-side-down over the image; "what on earth have you gotten yourself into?" she thumped it firmly three times, and faded into the image herself.

-

Present Day  
Storybrooke, Maine

Steven managed to find a place to crash- with a man who called himself "Mr. Walters" (with no first name given) and who was also referred to as "Happy" by the townspeople. He said that he could stay as long as he worked, and told him that a man named "Mr. Gold" (also with no first name) may convert his coins into currency.

This town sure was eccentric.

For now, he was helping out at a farm, with six other men there. The "other two" had gotten called into work. They told him he could bring Azure, but it would definitely be too hot, so a woman named "Sister Astrid" said she could stay with her and the other volunteers at the library until they closed.

"Alright, we have orders for avocados this week," Leroy called out; "so- hey, you, 'new guy-' you start with those," he flipped through some papers; "We're adding an expansion over here- gotta get rid of these trees,"

It was going to be a very, very long day.

"You found him standing right here?"

It was so, so tempting not to close and lock the cell door on him.

"Yes,"

He looked up at the celing and poked around with his cane in the air. It hit something rubbery that twitched and surged a deep blue.

"I like the look of you behind bars, Rumple,"

"Really? But stripes are so unflattering on my figure," he hit it again.

"Found anything so far, Gold?"

"Yes," he lowered his cane back to the ground. "It's a one-way portal, leading directly to this spot. It's...also pathetically basic, it shouldn't even work," all the gears in his head were spinning. There must have been just enough magic here for a tiny, insignificant opening. "Only one person could have come through,"

"So, are we safe, then?" Emma asked.

"Not necessarily," he turned around; "This portal was made for only one particular person, by another person, on purpose- but somehow, two people have used it. That makes it highly unstable. There is also the small matter of how in the hell someone even knew about this place, and why they sent them here," he walked out of the cell, not bothering to close the door.

"Got any other relatives in other dimensions we should know about?" Belle inquired, shuffling through items on Emma's desk out of curiosity.

"No,"

"How about ones we shouldn't know about?" the sheriff pushed for more information.

"Ms. Swan," he straightened his back; "do you truly think that I would leave my wife or grandson in danger if I had a clue as to who was behind this portal?"

She gave him a skeptical glance that was nearly a glare. Somehow, he always managed to avoid the question. "What's the worst-case scenario with one of these things?"

It looked as if he wasn't going to answer, but even if he was planning to, he didn't have the chance. Belle did.

"I think the worst-case scenario for a one-way portal is...when it becomes unstable and creates a vaccuum..."

Rumple looked at her. "Where did you get this information?"

"You," she said with a half-smile.

"I'm not much of a teacher. Furthermore, I remember nothing of this,"

She giggled; "That's because you didn't know I was paying attention,"

"Hm," he gave a light nod of approval. "What she's neglected to mention is what happens if it creates a vaccuum," he gave Belle a challenging look, but she just shrugged. "If it creates a vaccuum, both of the worlds connected to this portal will disappear from their rightful places and blend together. It will be unpleasant for everyone, I assure you,"

"Oh, well, that's great," Emma deadpanned. "Is there anything you can do to keep that from happening?"

"..." he looked to Belle, then Emma, apparently weighing his options somewhere in his mind. "I may be able to stabilize it temporarily, but I don't have what I'd need to shut it down,"

"Then buy us some time,"

"I can get you a week, at best. In the mean time, Ms. Swan, I'd suggest you don't use this cell,"

She nodded and grabbed a stack of papers from her desk. "How long do you think you'll need to...uh...do whatever your doing?"

With a look of pure cynicism, he retorted; "That depends on how long I wish to meditate on 'the force,'"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, _come on_,"

-

That night, the six men- one of whom was called Tiny in spite of a near-monstrous height- worked on that farm until dusk. Steven was exhausted long before them; he flopped over in a haystack and maintained a state of only half-consciousness that was interrupted as a few of them squabbled over the lyrics to a song he'd never heard. Eventually, they took to just whistling "The Farmer in the Dell" until their lips were sore.

Mr. Walters got his attention by standing right beside him, slapping his shoulder, and chuckling. "You look like you're all tuckered out there, kid,"

He sat up without saying anything.

"It's about time to head home. Come on, Steven. I'll take you to pick up your daughter,"

He didn't have the energy to argue about whether or not she was his daughter. He just nodded and forced his legs to move until he could flop over in the passenger's seat of the car.

"Maybe you'd have a better time at a desk job," he said. "I think the sheriff may need someone to help with answering phones. Hey, I know, we'll stop by there first,"

"Okay," he forced his mouth to move.

He wanted to just rest in the car, he was sunburnt and tired and probably dehydrated, but he knew he was expected to get out and go in when they reached the sheriff's office. When the car stopped, he obligingly got out and trudged up to the door. He didn't have to do anything from there, though, as the door suddenly swung open.

"Uh...hey," Emma was confused to see him there; "Did you um, find a place to stay?" he nodded and motioned for the car. "Oh. Mr. Walters," she said that with a hint of sympathy. "Well, can I help you with-"

"When can I go?" he sounded garbled and muffled from exhaustion.

She didn't really know how to answer that. All she could give him was a vacant stare. "I...uh...I don't know, exactly. Hopefully within the week- are you feeling alright?"

He tried to nod, but got a headache. "He...uh...he suggested I come to see if you have any job openings for a secretary..."

"...I would have to check the budget. Why don't I call you first thing in the morning?"

Steven hesitated, his mind completely blank. When he could manage it, he nodded, and turned to walk back to the car. Emma did the same, getting into her little yellow bug to go pick up her son.

Flashback  
Wonderland

When Rumplestiltskin arrived in the Hatter's abode, all he could see was hats. Hundreds of them, if not thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. Even The Dark One was startled by the volume of them. And they were all completely, totally, and thoroughly useless.

"You'll never be able to make one like that, dearie," he said, though the man at the desk didn't flinch. Didn't even seem to notice him. He twitched and flinched and stared. His hands were scratched and bloody from accidentally (or not) pricking himself.

Another hat was finished. The Hatter didn't bother inspecting it before he tossed it away.

"That hat wasn't made with fabric the first time. It was made with magic,"

Again, he didn't seem to notice. Rumple, not enjoying this dynamic, picked up a stray teacup that was lying about and threw it against the wall. The shattering broke Jefferson out of his trance.

"What's a man got to do to get a little recognition around here?!"

"Wha...what are you doing here? How did you get in?!"

"Details, details..." even Rumplestiltskin couldn't get into the hat without relying on the Hatter's power. "The question isn't 'How did I get in here?', but 'How can you get out?'"

"I can't. If you let me leave here, you'll be trapped. One in, one out. Hat's rules,"

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear," he didn't have time to dawdle. "I'm here to make you a deal. To get you out of this..._Wonderland_,"

"I have nothing you want. None of these hats have any enchantments in them. None!" he shoved a pile of them off to the sides.

"Hm..." Rumple stared at him blankly. "No, I don't need any hats,"

Present Day  
Storybrooke

The library had closed two hours ago, so Azure was at the monastery. Again, Steven had to get out and walk up to the gate.

"Are you here to pick up Azure?" it was Mother Superior who was outside, watering some flowers when he showed up.

"Yes,"

"Well...come in," she opened the gate for him. "She's in the chapel with Sister Astrid and Sister Elizabeth," so far, there were very few of the fairies who were receptive to Elizabeth. Even Astrid was on her guard, but she was one who managed to be friendly in spite of that, so Mother Superior facilitated their interaction by putting them both in charge of the child. Steven really didn't want to walk more, but he knew he had to to get Azure. Once he got inside, it was only a matter of navigating to the chapel- the doors of which were right to his left.

"'You are not my mother!'" what he heard immediately was the distinctive sound of an English woman, reading a story to a young child; "'You are a snort!'" Azure laughed in her typically silent way, and even Nova giggled. Any distrust she had towards Sister Elizabeth had vanished completely. The doors to the chapel closed loudly, and ended the story abruptly. Both the women stopped and turned to look. Azure, happy to see Steven, quickly jumped down off of the one nun's lap and ran to embrace him. He pushed himself to bend down and give her a hug.

Elizabeth couldn't seem to stop looking at the man who'd just come in.

"Oh, um, Steven, this is Sister Elizabeth,"

He took in a deep breath as he stood. "Don't I know you?"

She considered her response carefully. "It's quite possible. You look familiar to me, as well,"

Azzie tugged on his arm lightly.

"You look tired, Mr. Steven," Nova tried to be polite; "I'll get you something to drink,"

He didn't have it in him to argue. Sister Elizabeth stood up.

"No, don't worry about it, Sister Astrid. I'll get it. I suspect putting you in the same room as breakable dishes is a recipe for 'disaster,'"

She left the room for a few moments, and came back with a glass of water. Steven drank it down quickly. "Thanks," he said, barely breathing as he handed it back over to her.

"You're welcome,"

He nodded lightly. "Alright. Come on, Azzie, it's time to go home,"

The two of them left. Sister Elizabeth immediately reached for the book she'd been reading.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm worried about this bird," she said, flipping through the pages. "I want to make sure he gets home alright,"

As Steven made his way out with Azure, the young girl caught sight of Mother Superior. This put a big smile on her face, and the nun returned the gesture. With that, the younger girl curtsied.

"Have a good night," was all Blue said. 


	4. The Back-Up Plan

Title: Meant to Be

Alternate Title: There is no Excuse for This

Summary: Post-Season 3, but not delving into Season 4's work with time portals and Frozen characters. Introducing new characters and answering the show's mysteries with headcannons. Because sometimes, things just happen differently.

Chapter Four: The Back-Up Plan

Chapter Summary: An unfamiliar person arrives in Storybrooke.

A/N: My line breaks aren't showing up for some reason, so for the story I'll be switching the type of break I use. Sorry about any inconvenience with that!

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In Steven's mind, the only thing more degrading than harvesting avocados in a field full of four grown men singing The Farmer in the Dell was working for a female sheriff. He didn't have it in him to ask, but he quietly wondered about the logic that employed this admittedly gorgeous blonde as a sheriff. What next- kids? Animals?

"Here," she handed him an oddly-shaped box made out of Styrofoam.

"What's this?" he poked at it tentatively.

"Breakfast sandwich," she opened it for him. "I couldn't be a sheriff eating donuts. It's too cliché,"

Steven nodded and tried it. Evidently, "breakfast sandwiches" were made with English muffins, sausage patties, scrambled eggs and cheese. Why had he never thought of that?

"So, where's your friend today?"

By 'your friend,' he was sure she meant Azure. "She's helping out Mother Superior at the monastery. Seemed pretty excited to see her, must be her people senses," animals were known to have good senses about people.

Emma nodded. "Oh, before I forget," she swallowed her food and pointed to the cell; "don't go in there. It's- ahm- dangerous," it was hard to gauge how much of their reality he could take.

"Got it," Ring! Ring! "Good morning- sheriff's department," he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper; "You're...you're who, now?"

The sheriff, behind him, let out a small, quiet laugh. He took some notes; she waited for him to finish.

"Do you have any more information on the woman who followed you here?"

"Sister Elizabeth?" he looked over. "She followed me here?"

"Oh, no, um, sorry," she fumbled for words. Prior to now, she had assumed they knew each other, only because of what Blue told her about the reason she had shown up. "It's just an expression- she showed up right after you did. I thought you might know who she is,"

"Oh. Well, she looks familiar to me, but I can't place it,"

That clearly piqued Emma's interest. "Really? You think she's from wherever you're from?"

"I don't know any nuns named 'Elizabeth.' Sorry, Emma,"

"No- no, that's okay," she failed to pretend she thought they wouldn't know each other.

There was a break in conversation while he ate his sandwich. "I just got a call," he swallowed; "from a girl who thinks the sky is falling,"

"Penny," she answered with a sigh. "We get those calls every couple months- it's probably time for them to increase her medication," she finished the rest of her food and dusted the bread crumbs from her hands.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mother Superior was tending the garden out in front of the monastery. As it turned out, even fairies needed to trim their hedges. And Azure helped as much as she could, safely, sensing that the older woman would definitely not want her to be hurt. They worked for a long time in silence, as it seemed Blue wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"I must say, I'm...glad to see you in good health,"

Azzie smiled and grabbed the nun by the wrist, avoiding her hand because that was where the hedge clippers were. Then she grabbed the hose.

"No, we don't need to water yet," the little girl put it down. "There are some more weeds in the flower beds, could you get them for me?" she nodded and headed for the flower beds that were closer to the walls.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The honeymoon was nearly forgotten as Rumplestiltskin now found himself distracted with trying to figure out the mysterious portal. Belle, as per her usual self, had tracked down a few books on the subject herself and was throwing herself into it with more fervor than he could quite muster.

"Our time together keeps getting interrupted," he mentioned, standing behind her. She was so involved in what she was reading that she hadn't noticed him there, so it startled her.

"It's alright. We didn't have anything to do today except be married,"

"Do we have to have something else to do?"

She looked up at him and smiled with just the part of her mouth he could see, given the way her head was tilted. "I can happily say I'll never be bored with you, Rumple,"

"...hnn..." he turned his face away and thumped his cane on the ground.

"What is it? You've been so distracted lately,"

It took him a few seconds to gather a response. "Nothing to report,"

She rolled her eyes. "...alright, Rumple," with that, she returned to the book she had in front of her.

"So, what have you found so far?"

"It looks like...the most efficient way to close a one-man, one-way portal is..." she gave the text on the page an odd stare.

"Have you never read in this language before?" he put his finger over the text. "These are the ingredients to the spell that would shut down the portal,"

"But...what do eggs have to do with it?"

He abruptly jerked his head to the page. "Where do you see 'eggs' here?"

She pointed to a section of scribbles that, to anyone else, might look like a toddler had gotten a hold of an ink pen. He took her finger over a little on the page. "Oh- I see, so that's all one word. That makes more sense," she flipped through the book a little; "But we don't have any of this,"

"We have eggs in the refrigerator,"

Belle turned the page, making a laughing sound that resembled static on a television. She regained her seriousness after something in the text caught her eye. "It's also possible to shut down a portal by reversing it and sending him back through, as long as he's able to destroy the object the portal's in,"

"That," he said, straightening up his spine; "would require more items that I don't possess at the moment,"

"...so, basically...we don't have anything we'd need to shut down this portal?"

"Precisely. There's enough magic here for the ingredients to work- just no ingredients,"

"...surely there must be some substitution..." she kept looking. "It says that if we have an enchanted item, we can cross some of these items off our list,"

"...hm," he grunted and nodded. "That's a thought,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Unknown Universe

Unknown Time

London, England

Six-year-old Mary-Jane didn't like being called 'Elizabeth,' but it was her middle name and her father liked it better, so that was how they introduced her, and it was what everyone called her. Everyone, that was, except Robbie.

It was early Sunday morning, the usual for church. Elizabeth's parents got out of the carriage just behind her as she struggled to ignore her childish whim of running up to greet her friend, little Robert Lincoln White Junior. Her parents would be upset with her.

"Good morning, Ms. Mary-Jane," he tipped the little hat he was wearing.

"Good morning, Mr. White," her mother tried to interrupt and talk over the top of her to keep her quiet, but it was unsuccessful. She wrapped her arms around him, anyways.

"Robbie!" she took in a deep breath and tried to start telling him about her week, but her father jerked her shoulder.

"Come along, Elizabeth,"

That still didn't deter her. "Come on, Robbie," she grabbed his arm. He obediently followed her and her parents. His parents, as usual, allowed him to sit with them. Her parents posed no real objections as long as they were quiet, so they would stay completely silent for the whole Catholic mass, only communicating through sighs and occasional facial expressions.

"And, as I've mentioned before, we should all know that these so-called 'magical abilities' are a trick of the enemy! All magic must be abandoned, so that we can truly live in Goodness of Spirit..."

Mary-Jane held her tongue. Her mother roughly pushed at her shoulder to break her gaze away from Robert.

"Pay attention, Elizabeth," she whispered angrily. Only she didn't want to. She didn't want to hear the priest call all magic 'evil' the way he did every week.

"Okay," she gave in and looked at the man who condemned all magic and its users to "a fate worse than death." As though he had the authority to do that.

Like most people in her world, Mary-Jane had a special ability. She could go inside any world that had been thought of, so long as it was written or drawn, and become a character in it until the story ended. And she used that power in secret, to bring happy endings into sad stories. And she just didn't understand how something like that could be considered 'evil,' but it wasn't like her opinions mattered.

"Take good mental notes, Elizabeth," her father said; "You'll need to know this for when you join the convent,"

Only Mary-Jane didn't want to be a nun in a religion that told her magic was evil. "Okay,"

And she tried to care, she really did. She tried to focus and pay attention and believe it for sure. But she didn't.

Robbie gave her a goofy smile from where he was sitting in an attempt to cheer her up. She smiled back politely.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present day

Storybrooke, Maine

Steven ended up having to make a run to Granny's that afternoon for lunch. He ran in with a small list of requests from the town sheriff and patiently waited by the bar. The same waitress from the day before was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to serve all the tables and take all the orders. It was the diner's owner who came out to approach him.

"I hope you brought money this time,"

He pulled the small wad of green paper out of his pocket to show her.

"Good," time had softened her irritation with the whole incident. Given her general demeanor, he didn't expect an apology, or anything related to that, but things would hopefully go more smoothly from now on. "Now, what can I get for you?"

He grabbed the list and checked over it. "Uh...a Diner Classic Special, no ketchup, extra onions, and a Pepsi for the first order,"

"French fries or onion rings?" the confused look on his face let her know that Emma hadn't written it down. "I'll just give her her usual. And you?"

"Could you make a soup to-go?"

"Yep,"

"Okay. I'll have a...clam chowder,"

"Sure. Side salad and breadsticks?"

"Yes, please,"

She calculated something on the computer in front of her. "The total cost will be eighteen ninety-four,"

He handed her the fistful of cash. She weeded through it, found what she needed, and handed him some change. "The approximate wait time is twenty minutes. Someone 'll call you when it's ready,"

Steven gave her a nod and sat down at the barstool. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Sister Elizabeth enter the building. She was seated at a booth, and he couldn't help but over-hear the conversation.

"Good afternoon! How are you doing today, Sister?"

"I'm doing well, thanks," she said that, though it was clear that she was self-conscious; she probably didn't expect to see Steven here. It seemed to be something about him that had her uneasy. "How are you today..." her eyes searched for a nametag.

"Oh, it's Ruby, and I'm doing fine- thanks for asking. Would you like to start with something to drink?"

"Yes, certainly. What do you have?"

"Pepsi products," at the inevitable confusion the woman suffered, the waitress realized she would have to elaborate. "We have Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew-"

"Oh, Mountain Dew?" the piqued her interest. "That sounds lovely. You collect actual dew from the mountains and distill it?" Ruby didn't have a chance to answer, and wasn't exactly sure what to say anyways. She couldn't tell if the woman was being serious or not. "I'll have one of them, then. A 'Mountain Dew.' I'm sure it will be just divine,"

"Um...sure," she furrowed her brow and wrote it down. "Would you like some time to look over the menu while I get your drink?"

"Yes, please, there's so much on here!" Sister Elizabeth was overwhelmed with the number of items there were listed.

"No problem. I'll be back with your drink in a couple minutes,"

She looked over the menu intently as the girl walked away. There were so many words on here she didn't understand. While she was looking, the man she had previously been concerned about approached her table.

"It seems," he said; "that people in this town can just go up to other peoples' tables and start conversations with them,"

"I have never seen this happen until you did it today," she looked up to smile at him. He was more than several years her junior; based on appearances, approximately twenty. "You may sit here, if you like," her eyes returned to the menu and he obligingly sat down.

After what might have been half a minute in silence, Steven said; "Thank you for watching Azzie yesterday. You seem like you're really good with kids,"

Emotional recoil showed up in a brief, nearly undetectable flash on her face. Nevertheless, she nodded. "I do love children," she admitted. "It was a pleasure to watch her,"

He gave her a firm nod. "From what I hear, you showed up in town a little after I did. Where did you come from?"

"London, England. And you?"

"New York, America," he chuckled slightly. "Why did you come here?"

"To help a friend,"

"I wound up here by accident,"

Sister Elizabeth looked back up from her menu. "Yes," she breathed; "and I'm certain that you need to get home as soon as possible. I'm sure there's someone back at home who's waiting to see you,"

"My wife," he answered simply.

"...don't forget your parents. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you, too," the smile became more and more forced.

"Of course,"

"Here's your drink, Sister," she brought out an oddly-shaped glass. "Have you decided what you'd like to eat for lunch?"

"Yes, I'll have your turkey sandwich meal," she looked down at the glass; "Why is it green?"

"..." Ruby paused as she started to write the order down. "That's just what it looks like," then she finished writing. "The turkey sandwich is an experimental item, I'm trying a few things out right now. You want everything on it?"

"Yes,"

"And...pick a side?"

Sister Elizabeth looked over the list of sides. "I suppose I'll get it with 'onion rings,'"

"Okay. That'll be coming right up," she rushed out again. Sister Elizabeth pulled her glass towards herself and, after a few seconds of contemplation, decided to just take a drink out of it instead of trying to figure out the straw. It fizzed in her mouth and had the strangest flavor she'd ever experienced. The shock and bubbles in the liquid made her choke.

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized as the drink got everywhere. Steven grabbed a napkin and helped her clean up the mess.

"Don't worry about it. That happened to me the other day," he grinned in amusement of the past incident.

"That wasn't what I expected at all," she complained in a subtle tone. "I don't think dew drops are supposed to fizz. I don't know what this was, but it certainly wasn't 'mountain dew,'"

The mess got cleaned up, and the waitress offered to just bring her a water back- which worked out perfectly fine as far as anybody was concerned.

"Ah, so, Steven," Sister Elizabeth tried to start up a lighter conversation after that; "how do you like New York?"

"Well, I've lived there all my life, so I don't have anything to compare it to...I'd sort of like to travel, see more of America, but..." he shook his head; "my parents couldn't make the trip, and they need me around in case of an emergency,"

"You must really love your parents," it seemed she was gathering up the courage to say something.

"I do. They're the best parents I could have asked for,"

And the gumption left her immediately. "I hope they know their son thinks so highly of them. Once you get home, be sure to tell them. I'm sure they'll be glad to hear it,"

"Steven!" an unfamiliar blonde woman called him from behind the counter. "Your order's ready!"

"That's me," he stood up and made a motion over his head, as if to tip his hat, although he wasn't wearing one. "Have a nice day, Sister Elizabeth,"

"You do the same, Detective,"

And it was so natural to him to be called that, he didn't even question how she knew he was a detective.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Unknown Universe

Unknown Time

London, England

Elizabeth's pre-teen years came. She attended school in a convent, surrounded by floods of other girls. Her parents insisted that she get "socialized" around the nuns, because they were to be "her people." She was not to use magic- and, unless one was referring to the love of religion or love of the monastery or love of God- she was absolutely not to fall in love.

Of course not- love is the most powerful form of magic in existence.

There was to be no planning weddings- unless that referred to studying one's vows. No hopes for children of her own, and very little time to participate in endeavors outside the church-related functions her parents forced her into. As far as she understood- and the twelve-year-old was perceptive- her father was in the running to become a church elder, and the more she participated, the better he looked. Fortunately for her, there was one person at all these charities and fundraisers who wasn't completely brainwashed and talking according to a script.

"Why if it isn't Ms. Mary-Jane," Robert tipped his hat as she entered the chapel. She straightened her posture and looked directly at him, with a fond smile that could easily be taken for polite.

"Good morning, Little Robbie. What are our tasks for today?"

"Well," he answered; "I am sweeping the chimneys. Winter's coming 'round soon, the Sisters have already been making use of their fire places. Ask Sister Marigold about your assignment,"

"Thank you, Robert,"

He saw that her parents were there, and graciously bowed out of the conversation.

"Don't let the boys distract you," her mother scolded her in a subtle yet harsh tone. Her father said nothing.

"I know, mother,"

"Ah, Elizabeth, how wonderful to see you," Sister Marigold was an elderly woman, no younger than sixty-five, with her silver-white hair up in a tight bun. She was like a grandmother to the younger girl, a grandmother with whom your relationship was only "good" as long as you agreed with them on everything. That...probably described most grandparents, right?

"Good morning, Sister Marigold,"

Her father gave one of his self-important, attention-grabbing, completely-fake coughs. "I have errands to do today, Sister. Can we entrust our daughter to you for a while?"

"Why of course. Have a wonderful day," and, after a while of idling, useless chit-chat, the adults finally left her alone. Sister Marigold turned a wry smile to the young girl. "What job would you like to do today, Ms. Elizabeth?"

It was no longer so grating to be called 'Elizabeth.' The more she aged, the more 'Mary-Jane' and 'Elizabeth' seemed like two different people. And the more different the two of them seemed, the more she wanted these people just to call her 'Elizabeth.' Because they didn't know 'Mary-Jane,' the girl with her own opinions and dreams and desires and questions, they only knew 'Elizabeth,' the girl her parents wanted her to be.

"I would like to help out with the chimney sweeps,"

"Of course you would. Go see Little Robert. I put him in charge of the sweepers,"

"Yes, thank you,"

And she spent the rest of that day getting covered in soot and ash, knowing she'd be scolded and sent to bed without supper for getting so dirty, and completely not caring.

Her parents would scold her for something, anyways. She may as well have fun at whatever she was getting scolded for.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present day

Storybrooke, Maine

The sun was beginning to set. Gradually, all the nuns piled back into the monastery from their outside volunteer work, and dinner was served in meager portions of canned goods. Azure was invited for food as she had been the previous night, and it seemed Sister Elizabeth wasn't terribly hungry after her lunch earlier, so she allowed the girl to take an extra helping of whatever she wanted from her plate.

They exchanged facial expressions. The little girl remained completely silent, although it was quite clear that she could still hear everyone. She was clumsy with the utensils and kept dropping them, most likely because she couldn't quite figure out her thumbs.

It must have been strange to have them.

Over the past few days, it had become quite clear to Elizabeth that everyone in this entire town had either two names, or half-names. Some had last names with no first names, and of the people on that list, the most interesting was 'Mr. Gold.'

"Ah, so, Sister Elizabeth," Mother Superior was one of the few people to actually address her even now. "Do you and Azure know each other from somewhere?"

And she turned her head, then tilted it downward slightly, a fond gaze directed right at the child. "I do know of, well, someone called 'Azure,' where I'm from," she admitted; "but that person didn't look quite so...human," and the little girl giggled at that.

"...I see," so then...all three of them were probably from the same world. And all three of them had probably entered through that same portal. The question was- why?- but Blue didn't bring up that question in front of the other sisters. She let everything go quiet between them for the time being.

Steven came to pick up Azzie as their meal was coming to a close. It was Sister Maggie's job to gather everybody's plates into the kitchen for the evening, so she walked around the table with a small cart and kept to it.

"Good evening, Steven, it's lovely to see you," Sister Elizabeth stood and helped Azzie down from a chair that was just a little too high for her. She responded with a thankful smile and ran to meet the man. "You're looking much better than yesterday,"

He chuckled dryly. "Thanks. I guess it's about time for me to get going, then. Have a good night, Sisters,"

"Good night!" they all called out to him at various different times, a few in unison but mostly scattered.

Mother Superior approached Elizabeth as the others began to scatter out.

"Can I help you with something?"

She nodded. "Actually, you can. I have some questions for you. Please, sit back down," Blue motioned for the large kitchen table, and took a seat where Sister Elizabeth could sit across from her.

"Certainly, Mother Superior,"

She cleared her throat. "Now, I realize this may be none of my business, but...when I asked you the other day, you told me you came here to help a friend. The only person that could be is Steven...yet, the two of you don't seem to know each other. Is he the one you came for?"

"Yes," she spared no information.

"So...what exactly is his relationship to you, if the two of you don't know each other?"

There was a pause. Elizabeth lightly swirled her finger around and around on the wooden table top, her eyes moving from place to place every so often as she tried to gather a response. "I'm afraid that's much more complicated than you realize, Mother Superior."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Unknown Universe

Unknown Time

London, England

As Elizabeth headed through her teen years, certain things began to change. Although she was still attending school at the monastery, she was now- more than ever- willing to rebel. And Robert, whose family didn't buy into the "all magic is evil" nonsense, was more than willing to travel about with her. While her ability was to travel through stories, his ability was to follow. And it worked out perfectly. He would even make small chalk drawings for the two of them to travel through. As it turned out, Little Robbie was an excellent artist.

The two of them were now fourteen; it was a Saturday, another Saturday after a long day of sweeping chimneys. Her parents would go beyond scolding her and sending her to bed without supper now. And still, she couldn't find it in herself to care. What she was more concerned about was her feelings for this boy. Mary-Jane wasn't sure, but...in her nearly fifteen year old mind, she knew she at least liked him differently than she was supposed to.

"I don't think I want to be called 'Robbie' anymore," he told her. "That's what everyone calls my dad. I don't want to be 'Little Robbie Junior,'"

It was a sudden proclamation, but she accepted. "What shall I call you, then?"

"Hm...good question," he pondered it for a moment. She let him come up with whatever he wanted to be called on his own. "Perhaps...I've always liked 'Bert,'"

"'Bert' it is then, from now on,"

She was just finishing up the top of the chimney when she tripped and nearly fell. From behind her, she heard a concerned "Whoa-!", and Robert grabbed her arm.

For a few seconds, she hung there, looking down at the intimidating ground. Even in the dark, she could see, she would easily have died. And so would he, if he had lost his footing by even a millimeter. She slowly pulled herself back down onto the roof.

"You're lucky I didn't keep falling," she gasped, giving him a hug.

"No, you're lucky I was behind you,"

"...I'm always so lucky when I'm with you, Bert,"

"Aha!" he gave a jolly smile and spun her around towards the safe center of the rooftop. "It's because of my chimney-sweep charm," Bert held out his hand, showing that it was covered with ash and soot; "Good luck just rubs right off,"

And even though she had just had a near-brush with death, she laughed. He carried the cleaning utensils with him back towards the stairs that led downwards, then just set them down there and returned to her to sit and chat.

"So, how have you been, Ms. Mary-Jane?"

"Fine. Just fine. Um, did I tell you- my uncle wrote a book?"

"No, no you didn't. What's it called?"

"It's...it's called...The Plight of the Banks Children, or something like that. It's terribly sad, I don't know why he wrote it,"

"What happens?"

"It starts out with these two kids, Jane and Michael, and their family who's looking for a new nanny. They hire a new one, and she's this horrible old woman- makes everyone miserable. Eventually, the two kids give up and become completely obsessed with money, their Uncle Albert laughs himself to death, and their dad practically signs away all his morality to a bank that works him like a dog until he dies in the epilogue. And the saddest part is, by the time he dies, neither of the children knows anything about him but that he had money, and the only reason they care is because they want some,"

Bert took a moment to consider his response. Finally, he said; "Now, that, is a sad story. Every family should take a day off to just...you know, go fly a kite every once in a while,"

"That's what I thought,"

"So," he dusted his hands off on each other, succeeding in smudging it around more than in cleaning them off; "why don't we go, then?"

And she knew exactly what he meant. She nodded. "I was so hoping you would say that, because I brought the book with me," Mary-Jane grabbed his hand with one of hers and, with the other, pulled the book out of the large pocket on the apron she was wearing. "Now, remember, the story chooses what form you'll be in- you don't. And make absolutely certain that no one finds this book. If anyone reads it while we're inside, you'll be trapped in there forever,"

"Won't that happen to you, too?"

She shook her head 'no.' "Now- here. Hand me that chimney floot, it's easier to get inside the story if the magic has something to latch on to,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present day

Storybrooke, Maine

By the time Elizabeth reached the little antique shop with "Mr. Gold" written on it, it was pitch black out, and had been for a while. There was but one light on, and that one was from the inside of the building.

"...what about this one?" what on earth was that accent?

"No, that one's blessed, not enchanted,"

"...what's the difference?"

"'Blessed' starts with the creator, 'Enchanted' is in the material," the absolutely confused look on Belle's face told him he needed to explain more. "A blessed object is a normal object with an enchantment on it. An enchanted object is made out of magical materials,"

The door chimed open. Rumple let out an intense grunt of frustration, causing Belle to jerk and see what exactly was going on. Right. He didn't like being interrupted.

"Is that sign in a foreign language? I thought 'Closed' was in English,"

"It's nice to see you too," the nun lifted her head. "Rumplestiltskin," she tapped her umbrella on the ground. He stopped everything, his eyes narrowing in on that object.

"What's going on? She knows you?"

He nodded. "Yes...yes, I believe I do," he straightened himself up. "You weren't supposed to wind up here, Sister,"

"What do you want with him, Rumplestiltskin?"

That question brought a complete silence over the room. "Pardon me? What makes me think I want anything to do with him?"

"You're the only person I know who could travel to where I lived and leave,"

"...Well, I regret to inform you, but that's not actually my power. I needed an enchanted item to do that- and as I was just explaining to Belle...I have none. And besides that, no reason to bring Detective Penn over to Storybrooke. We have a perfectly good sheriff in town,"

It was his turn to silence her. He was the next person to talk.

"Is this your boy then, Sister?"

As though she was expecting this question, she answered; "You pose a complicated question,"

He didn't push her further.

"...so...how do you two know each other?"

"Sister Elizabeth was part of a...project...I was working on. A, uh, sort of..."Plan B" for the curse,"

"She was part of your back-up plan?"

He considered her choice of wording, and then nodded in approval. "Yes, that's a perfect way to say it,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Unknown Universe

Unknown Time

London, England

For her seventeenth birthday, Bert got her an umbrella. As far as her parents knew, it was a practical gift. But she knew better. She knew the umbrella was enchanted to help her expand her power, to help her focus it.

Mary-Jane had but a year left before she must become Elizabeth full-time, and she planned to utilize this time to her fullest. The book she liked the least had become her favorite as she frequented over and over, bringing happy endings wherever she could.

And, tonight, she had one last thing to express.

The stories put the new bodies to their personas as usual and dropped them into the story, this time with the umbrella to guide them. They landed on the pavement, and started off for the small inn they normally stayed at. Mary-Jane clasped her hand onto his. He took his hat off and placed it on her head. Within a few minutes, they had been given a room.

"Tomorrow," she informed him, as though he needed to be told; "the real fun starts," and he sat his things down on his bed.

"You betcha. I really like those two kids," he chuckled and sat down beside her on her bed after he had unpacked some of his things.

She was quiet and hesitant, but nevertheless asked; "Do you want children, Bert?"

"Yeah, sure. Someday,"

"..." she took a shaky breath. "I want to tell you something, Bert,"

"And what's that, Ms. Mary-Jane?"

She tried to say it. She opened her mouth, but the words didn't come out. For a split second, she wished she hadn't said anything. Then, she kissed him.

She kissed him. And it didn't stop there.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Cont.

London, England

In real time, it only took a few hours to finish the book. However, the whole story lasted over nine months. When Mary-Jane stepped out of the pages, she noticed a bulge in her stomach.

Oh...oh no.

She was...

pregnant...

Her mind reeled. In a blind panic, she grabbed her book and ran. No, she couldn't possibly stay at home. Her father would surely find a way to kill that child. He'd push her down the stairs, for one, and then disown her. She'd be ex-communicated.

It wasn't long before she was out of breath and struggling for a dock. She sneaked on and stowed away in a compartment of a ship, headed for America.

The wooden boat jerked and moved out into the ocean. Within a few seconds, once she had calmed down as much as she was going to, another horrifying thought occurred to her.

Where was Bert?

She opened the book. His name glared up at her in permanent ink and seared into her memory. Someone must have looked. And it trapped him in there.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flashback

Cont.

Approaching land at New York Harbor

She spent the next series of days trying to hold down her tears.

There were so many things she was upset about that she couldn't tell one feeling from the next. But if she gave away her position on this boat, she would most likely be killed, along with her unborn child. At least three times she had nearly been found.

Mary-Jane clutched the book in her hand. The pile of wooden boxes clanked together all around her. She tried to shrink herself down and make herself invisible.

It didn't work, of course.

A man who looked like a crewman of the ship suddenly locked eyes with her. Her heart pounded, her breaths shook. He was headed right for her, with a look in his eye that told her he clearly knew what he was after. When he got close- and he did get close, mere centimeters from her face- she couldn't stop staring at him, out of pure terror. He let out an odd, awkward, high-pitched laugh.

"I thought I sensed...desperation," there was some manner of glee on his face. "And I was right,"

"Wha-what are you doing here? Who are you?!"

"Shhh! Tut-tut-tut, if you don't keep your voice down, everyone will hear you, dearie,"

"Who are you?" her whisper hissed through the air.

"Rumplestiltskin, at your service,"

She stopped talking a little bit. The boxes jerked around and she moved with them.

"So! I came to offer you a little deal, Ms..."

"Mary,"

"Mary! Well, alright then,"

"...what's the deal?"

"I'm afraid I won't know that until you make your wish. What's it gonna be?"

Mary stared at him in shock of what was happening. Then, all at once, her wishes hit her. She looked to the book, then her bulging stomach, then the other crewmen on board.

"Time is of the essence, dearie. What'll it be?"

She looked down at her belly and tears filled her eyes. "I wish...I wish that after we make it to shore, my child would be adopted by a nice couple before they can ever remember being abandoned,"

Rumplestiltskin was actually taken aback with that, and that was clear by his pause. "What a clever girl," he finally said; "You've found a way to combine two wishes into one," and, not only that, but she had put a stipulation on him. Now, he couldn't ask for her unborn child as payment. "Well, I can grant this for you, but you should know- all magic comes with a price. We can call it a 'service charge,'" he laughed again, a dreadful, humming laugh.

"What do you want?"

"Huh..." that was a good question. "Do you see that book you're carrying?" she nodded. "The page before 'The End.' That one,"

And she struggled for a second, but then she gave it to him. It was a small price to pay.

"It's too bad you couldn't fit your third wish in,"

And that was when he left. He blended back in with the crewmen aboard and seemed to completely disappear.

The rest of her ride went on in silence.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present day

Storybrooke, Maine

When the next morning came, Emma couldn't track Steven down. He wasn't at the sheriff's department, and Happy didn't know where his roommate had gone. Mother Superior hadn't seen him. After she made about a hundred different phone calls, a small search party gathered outside the office.

Steven, with his young friend clasped onto his hand, quickly ambulated through town in what could only be desperation to leave. They were, to his knowledge, no closer to being able to send him home, and he needed to get there. As he neared the edge of town, he noticed the orange line that divided this town from the next.

"Wait!" his feet neared it. It was a blonde woman calling after him, one he'd not met yet.

The locals knew her as Tinkerbell. He ignored her.

"Mr. Penn, please stop!"

By the time she said that, he had already stepped over the line. He walked through a strange magical field, and after a few second, he ended up on a strange road. Azure, beside him, was a dog again, but the town he'd just left had...vanished. All he could do was stare wide-eyed at the blank expanse.


End file.
